Follow My Footsteps
by HisuiKaze
Summary: Sasuke's back from killing Itachi, and of course, Sakura is glad. But something seems to still be wrong with the sole survivor of the Uchiha clan...[SasuSaku] and some [NejiSaku]
1. Return

Six long years.

"Only six?"

Sakura stared at the starch white ceiling. Even though six years had passed, she still could never forget. At age eighteen it was a wonder she wasn't seeing anyone. Though, everyone close to the healing-nin knew she had already engaged herself to someone. To her long lost Uchiha prince. Sakura was already blushing just thinking of the dark hair and low voice that would hold her attention, even if Naruto was yelling in her ear.

She sighed, pink hair fluttering away from her face. Sakura's emerald eyes gazed out the window, where numerous daffodils bloomed. It had been her idea to plant them, when she'd become an official medical ninja. They reminded her of all the times she sat, waiting for her true love to awaken. In a sense, it was like the fairy tale she heard of, the one where the prince kisses the princess and she awakens.

Maybe it wasn't exactly the same.

She was abruptly pulled from her reverie when one of the nurses grasped her arm.

"W-what is it?" asked the cherry blossom, eyes fearful at her heavy breathing.

"Sakura-san, it's about…" The woman took a second to catch her breath, making the moment agonizingly long.

"Sasuke!"

That was the only thing the pink-haired girl needed to hear.

"What room!" She practically yelled. The nurse pointed down the hall,

"287. We though you should be the first to know."

_'Damn right'_ came her inner voice. Without waiting another moment she dashed down the halls, using her previous ninja trainings to avoid contact with any people. Her heart was bursting with excitement and if anyone had tried to stop Sakura now, they'd be covered in her footprints.

"287," she read aloud. And, quiet as a mouse, she clicked open the door, only to slip inside and lock it. Six years she had waited for him. Now she would get her privacy. Sakura knew that the doctors would obviously have left him in her care completely, knowing she was under training from Tsunade-sama herself.

"Sasuke-kun," she whispered under her breath, not believing it was truly him. He did look a terrible mess at the time. The healing-nin could only wonder what had happened to him.

Sakura immediately took notice to the fully stocked cabinet in the room, packed with bandages and a special cream she and Tsuande had created together. It was meant to speed the process of bones mending using faster cell reproduction.

After Sakura had gathered what she thought she'd need, and turned on the faucet in the bathroom to have some warm water, the healing-nin took her first look at his body.

Sasuke had most definitely grown. He looked twenty years older, and made her feel like a little girl again. Sakura didn't think she'd grown much, besides becoming a stronger woman. She still had no prominent features.

The girl shook her head, sending shoulder-length bubblegum locks tickling across her face. This was about Sasuke.

Sakura was pleasantly surprised to see that her childhood love was not too badly beaten up. As far as she could see, the arm he used for his chidori technique was broken, and further inspection of his ribs and sternum showed a broken lower rib. The Uchiha had shifted when she carefully inspected the area.

While her hands felt around his legs, she heard a groan, and the bed began to move. Sasuke had started to sit up, looking around to see he was once again in the hospital. Suddenly, a pair of arms started to wrap around his shoulders.

"Sasuke-kun!" The sharingan user heard a woman's voice cry. He immediately shoved back, pushing away the warmth. The raven-haired boy recognized the girl by her pink hair and watery emerald eyes.

"Sakura?" He said, in a somewhat surprised voice. Why was she here? Six years ago…

"Sasuke-kun!" The cherry blossom cried again. She leaned in to try and hug him once more, hoping he'd recognized her this time. Sasuke watched her arms open up to him a second time, but now he grabbed her wrists, cringing with the movement from his left arm. His grip was weak there.

"Why?" Sasuke asked, staring deep into her green eyes with his dark brooding ones. "Why are you always here, next to me when I wake up? Why do you always follow me, even after I ignore you?"

o-o

"_You're annoying,"_

o-o

Sakura pulled her hands from his, recoiling from his intense gaze. Her jade eyes were now glazing over with fresh tears.

"I…I told you six years ago…" she trailed off there, glancing at the floor. It was a touchy subject, at least for her. Perhaps he had even forgotten over his missing-nin years.

Suddenly, the raven-haired boy cried out in pain, having twisted a direction his body was not prepared for. Sakura envision the broken rib tearing at his organs.

"Sasuke-kun!" The rose-haired girl instantly had her healing jutsu on her finger tips as she searched over his visible body for anything else she could do. But the rib turned out to be the most pressing matter. She released the jutsu and then pulled out her kunai knife, finding it to be the most effective cutting tool. As she slowly sliced the front of his black jacket apart Sasuke watched from the corner of his eye. The only part of his body he trusted to move was his neck. Sakura gasped when she finally pulled the fabric apart and revealed Sasuke's very well toned muscles. Her face was beginning to flush a deeper hue, and she could feel a strong tingle in her stomach.

Sasuke was undoubtedly the most handsome man she'd ever seen. Her trials of being a healing-nin had caused to her cut many a shirt open to inspect the wounds. None so far matched the beautiful skin, marred with scars from his six years of lone traveling, and from the missions they had gone on when they were still children. Sakura ran her hand across his abdomen, counting the muscles. His body fat percentage was so low you could see the fourth rack of abs, giving him the rare eight-pack.

"Ahem,"

Sakura jumped, snapping her hand away, and continued her healing.

The Uchiha smirked to himself at her blushing face. She still reddened over him like a schoolgirl. But then, any girl would fall for his hardened abs. The pride he felt for himself made Sasuke's blood boil pleasingly.

Suddenly, a cloth was pressed to his bare skin, hot water stinging the open wounds on his chest. He inhaled sharply against the unexpected pain, and immediately hated himself for it. The Uchiha heir tensed beneath the pressure of her hand.

"Sasuke-kun, please do not move much," Sakura pleaded, working carefully to scrub off the dried mud and blood, both old and from fresh cuts. She followed each clean swipe with her opposite hand, slathering a cream his injured body had not yet felt before. It was a very nice cooling sensation that Sasuke experienced from the touch of the cream, and although he could not see, his cuts were sealing themselves five times faster than normal.

However, there was still a broken arm and cracked rib to deal with.

"Ano, Sasuke-kun, I can't lie…this is going to hurt. Demo, I have a pill that will help. From my examinations, you have a cracked lower rib, and a broken arm."

The girl quickly filled a glass with water, and held out the pill to him. Begrudgingly, Sasuke took the anesthetic, draining the water along with it. A sort of floating feeling started to take over his body.

He turned his ebony eyes towards her jade ones, as if to ask, 'what next?'

"Gomen," the cherry blossom whispered, before moving to face his back, and drawing out her kunai knife again. Slowly, she cut straight through the back of the shirt, slicing the Uchiha symbol in half. Sasuke stiffened, and glared at her from the corner of his eye.

With deft fingers, Sakura began tightly wrapping more bandages around his waist, using them to help keep his spine straight. She was nearly hugging him as she wound the white bindings.

The great Uchiha was somewhat impressed with her healing skills. It seemed she had found her true genius, finally.

A voice much deeper inside Sasuke announced he liked the feel of her fingertips lightly dragging across his skin. He quickly quelled the thought.

However, his hormones could not deny her surprising growth. She had truly become an attractive woman, with all the necessary curves that men - not including Sasuke, of course - liked. If it had been anyone else, they might have commented that she was pretty. Sasuke did not understand the meaning of "compliment." He knew though, that underneath her tightly fitting healing-nin uniform, one that he had grown to detest, was the soft smooth flesh of a female.

"Stop," The raven-haired boy hissed, losing control of himself. Sakura hesitated for a second, wondering who he was talking to. She had begun fixing up his broken arm now, the same that always produced the great Chidori technique. She fastened a sling around his shoulder right before he fell back into the pillow, the painkiller almost taking its full effect.

Sasuke was unaware he had said anything, and let Sakura continue treating him, admitting that it was much needed. The cooling sensation really did feel good. So did the soft pillow beneath his head.

"Sakura," he said abruptly, before the anesthetic completely kicked in, "remember all those times after missions…?"

o-o

"_Hmm. I'm going home. Ja," Sasuke swished his raven hair around his head before walking off in the direction of his lonely apartment. _

_"A-ano, S-sasuke-kun? Would you like to…to go out to eat?" _

_Sasuke would always pause at this time, as if he was seriously considering the offer._

_He could only imagine the emotions running across her face. In some way, her constant reliance on him, this daily routine, had become a strong factor in Sasuke's isolated life. It was almost as if the Uchiha got some sick pleasure in denying her everyday, testing her limits. Naruto would always then yell at Sasuke for being a jerk, which he was, then ask Sakura to go with him. However, she would always either disappear, or be lost in thought._

_"No," came the neutral reply, crushing a heart, raising a temper, and satisfying a need, all in one go. Sakura's strange dependence on him kept the Uchiha survivor pursuing his goal. Maybe after…_

o-o

"Maybe…we can finally get that ramen, ne?"

With that, he passed out under the influence of the drug.

Tears blurred Sakura's vision once again.

"Sasuke-kun…" the rose haired-nin gently held her prince's hand once more, channeling her healing chakara into his arm, wishing for him to heal; to be there for her.

o-o

_"Itachi!" growled the deep voice._

_No reply from the missing-nin._

_"ITACHI!"_

_Again no answer. Sasuke rushed him then, sharingan eyes burning holes through his brother._

_Chakara gathered into his hand…_

o-o

"Awwww, Sakura-channnnnnn"

Puberty has done well for Naruto's body. However, his attitude and maturity level hadn't changed a bit. The fourth Hokage shone through the fox child now, his dandelion hair fuller, and his face and body longer and more…man-like.

Sakura laughed a little, closing the door to Sasuke's room with a small click. She had spent another two or three hours just sitting next to him, convincing herself that it was all real.

"Naruto, still whining as usual," She joked, his pout bringing back memories.

"And you, Kakashi-sensei, get those dirty thoughts out of your head!" The copy ninja had been reading his usual perverted books again, and kept throwing Sakura in her healing-nin uniform strange looks, before looking back to his book. Kakashi gave the old one-eyed smile, and simple wave.

"Well, I'm sorry, but Sasuke's sleeping right now…I don't think he should be bothered."

Her sensei cocked his head towards the door, his silver hair in complete disarray as usual, sweeping over his face.

"Sakura, I believe you may be wrong,"

Naruto pushed past his cherry blossom teammate, and burst into the room, full fledged Naruto-style. Kakashi started towards the door with his usual slouching stroll, when he noticed Sakura made no move towards the open entrance. She looked flushed and seemed to be hiding from Sasuke's sight.

"Sakura?"

"I-I'll leave…you guys…ano…"

What could get her away? She was too nervous to see Sasuke again, after what he said.

"Bandages! Yes, must go!"

Kakashi looked blankly at her, then into the room where several rolls of white gauze lined the cabinet shelves. He shrugged, stuck his book into his nose, and smirked. Sakura saw the shadows on his mask shift, and wasn't sure what to think. She did feel somewhat self-conscious at the moment though. He continued his stroll into the white hospital room, finally seeing the new eighteen year-old Sasuke.

"Sasuke!"

The Uchiha boy could recognize that voice, no matter where or when he heard it; though, it had deepened a little bit.

The blonde boy had jumped into the air, about to land on his old rival, when Kakashi grabbed onto his collar and dropped him firmly onto the stool Sakura normally sat on.

Sakura?

Sasuke turned his head side to side, not seeing the pink-haired girl anywhere.

"Where's Sakura?" Sasuke questioned without thinking.

"Aaa, you haven't seen your old Sensei in six years and the first thing you ask is 'where's Sakura?'" The copy-nin leaned against the wall, staring down fixedly at him.

"I –" Now Sasuke was in too deep. Naruto raised his eyebrows uncharacteristically.

"Since when do you care," he shot at the Uchiha boy.

Think! Quick!

"I guess I'm just," Sasuke carefully scripted his words, "_accustomed_ to her being here when I wake,"

Naruto scowled. Sasuke breathed deeply, thinking he'd got himself out of the mess. He nearly sneezed at the sudden intake of chemicals in the air before turning to Kakashi.

"Ah, Kakashi. How has Konoha been?"

"Hmm. Well, repairs from the attack have finally come near completion. The village is returning to normal with the advancement of so many young shinobi. In fact, Naruto is now Sensei to Konohamaru and his friends."

Naruto nodded, chest bursting with pride.

So Naruto was a Jounin now.

"Ooi, Sasuke," Fox-boy was serious looking. "Did you complete your mission?"

Sasuke took a deep breath, slowly letting it out through his teeth causing a low whistling sound. His dark and handsome eyes gazed at the curtains slowly rippling in the wind.

"Yeah," said the last Uchiha. "Itachi is…" the words were difficult to say. The scene was again reenacted in his minds eye.

Kakashi lowered his book, watching Sasuke carefully. Something had happened between him and his older brother. And it had left a scar that ran deeper than his skin.

Naruto pushed his eyebrows together.

"I hope you're happy, Sasuke. You don't know how much pain you caused Sakura-chan."

'He still has that strange love for her,' thought Sasuke. It ran parallel to Sakura's strange obsession with him.

Just outside the door, in the small nook, Sakura sat, clutching her legs to her chest.

"So, he got revenge," murmured the girl.

"I guess that means you'll follow your second ambition then," said Kakashi.

Second goal?

o-o

_"I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan, and…definitely to kill a certain man."_

o-o

"The resurrection of my clan…" Sasuke sat the same way he had the first day of Team 7. His elbows were resting on his knees, but he was finding it rather hard to slouch with the tight bandages holding him erect.

"Ehhh?" Naruto's eyes widened.

Sakura gasped. Restore his clan? Not wanting to hear any more, the kunoichi quickly composed herself and walked in.

"Ano, Sasuke-kun, I need to check your bandages,"

The raven-haired boy just glared at her, making her shiver; it was like he was looking into her soul.

Bravely Sakura approached him and took his heavily dressed broken arm.

At first Sasuke wanted to resist her help. Naruto and Kakashi watched with interest.  
Frustrated at Sasuke's fighting, the pink-haired girl stepped back and made a few seals.  
"If you continue to fidget I will be forced to body bind you," Sakura, red-faced, threatened.  
Threatened?  
Sasuke stared at her wide eyed. Secretly, Kakashi and Naruto were congratulating the cherry blossom.  
'How dare she threaten me!' growled a voice inside Sasuke. The sharingan began to form in his eyes.  
Panicking, Sakura formed the last seal and the angry Uchiha became rigid in the bed.  
Kakashi slowly stood up straight and pushed Naruto off his stool.  
"Hey!"  
"Time to go, Naruto."  
"Ooi, ooi, ooi, ooi!" The fox boy yelled, being dragged out of the room by the collar.  
Once outside, Kakashi released his hold.  
"Stay and listen," said the copy ninja before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

o-o

Almost angrily, the healing-nin unwrapped Sasuke's bandages, and then carefully massaged the skin for any irregularities. She noticed he flinched when her finger traveled over the area where the bone had broken.  
Sakura sighed. The break was quite bad, and he would need a cast.  
By then the sharingan had disappeared from Sasuke's eyes, and he was thinking about the future. About what Kakashi had said. It was true.  
Now that Itachi was gone, he was free. And it was time to continue his  
legacy. Sasuke was of legal age now...  
But what would he do? The space Sasuke had initially created between himself and others might be too large to mend...like gum stretched out too thin. He needed someone who would be able to stand his naturally cold nature.

Speaking of gum...  
Sasuke absent mindedly looked towards Sakura's determined face.  
No, she's annoyi-  
That's what he's said to her six years ago. Amazing, Sasuke still remembered. Although slightly 'troublesome,' her naturally caring nature, and her seemingly never-ending love for him could be good, if Sasuke planned to take his ninja skills further, like ANBU ranking. He wouldn't have to be around all the time. Sakura was a mediocre ninja anyway – she wouldn't mind giving it up for him.  
The Uchiha stopped for a second.  
What if there was another Itachi?  
This caused the hot blood to run cool.  
There was no way that he would sit and watch his family be destroyed again.  
How could he prevent it? Kill every suspicious child?  
What had caused Itachi to rebel so suddenly?  
Maybe he had been lacking something...but what?  
"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura said his name rather tentatively. The body bind had worn off, he noticed.  
"Hn," Trademark response.  
"I need you to sit up..." It was less of a demand now. " I'm sorry for binding you," pink locks hid the blossom's embarrassed face.  
Sasuke chose not to respond. It was his own fault, submitting to a weak jutsu. Instead, he carefully brought himself to a sitting position so that the healing-nin could check his wounds.

Sakura bit her lip. After eavesdropping on the boys' conversation, she wanted to ask some of her own questions.

"Wh-what happened…to…you. Out there. What was it like? Alone…" her sentences were strangely broken.

'It was quiet,' Sasuke thought to himself. He was secretly enjoying Sakura's nimble fingers loosening his stiff muscles again.

"I learned to survive," The raven-haired boy responded coldly. "And it was nice, without people to bother me,"

"Oh…" Sakura's motions stopped, and she fiddled with the corner of his sheets instead.

'Don't stop,' Sasuke thought. Those words almost escaped his throat.

"Well, you are scheduled to have a cast added later today. And you'll have to stay in bed for about six weeks. Until your rib heals."

Sakura became strictly business like now, gathering the bandages and disposing of them, then organizing the small supply cabinet unnecessarily.

"I guess…I'll just…go, then," disappointment was heavy in Sakura's voice. Still, after six years, Sasuke resisted her.

The raven-haired boy watched her wander about the room before moving towards the door.

"Sakura," he was lying down again, "I was being serious about the ramen,"

Her face matched her hair again as she quickly exited the room, only to run head long into Naruto.

"Ah!" The blushing girl bounced off of him, and back into the door, followed by a loud resonating 'bang!'

"Sakura-chan! Daijoubu?" Naruto offered his hand out to help her stand straight again.

"You were eavesdropping!" Sakura accused, raising her hand to smack him.

"N-n-no! Kakashi-sensei told me to!" The fox boy ducked his head down, anticipating the pain.

"Did he?" she lowered her arm.

Naruto placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Gomen Sakura. For Sasuke…"

"It's okay…" Sakura brushed his hand away, shoulders slumping again.

"How about I treat you to some ramen?"

This was getting to be too much like old times.

"Iya, Naruto. I just want to go home," Sakura's voice was distant.

"Ah…okay,"

o-o

Slowly, yet surely, the next six weeks passed by. Sakura still visited Sasuke, but otherwise the other nurses had fun taking care of him. Sakura was usually at the hospital later in the day, when he was sleeping.

Bu now, it was the day of his release. Coincidentally, it also Sakura's day off, and she was sitting alone at home, worrying herself sick over Sasuke's memory. Would be remember the ramen?

An hour later, her door bell rang.

Sakura froze, hardly daring to believe it.

In a cautious manor, she opened the door…


	2. Quick Author's Note

Authors Note:

Yo!

I'm a new to this deal…I don't usually choose to post my stuff on the internet…sooooo…The formatting is probably all weird. In fact, there used to be some bars and stuff separating memories (Which are in italics)

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this.

I just read up to chapter 245 in the manga. I have decided to place this BEFORE part two. So there are things like spoilers, if you care.

Characters are probably OOC. It's so hard to write Sasuke in character anyways

THE NAME AND CHAPTER TITLES CAN ALWAYS CHANGE! Just keep that in mind.


	3. Confusion

**If you have not read the new ending of chapter 1, I suggest you do so now**

o-o

"Hi-Hinata?"

Sakura stood open-mouthed, staring at the Hyuuga heir with disbelief. Over the years Hinata had grown up too, now with long hair pulled back into a pony tail. She had grown stronger as well, but still held her shy disposition. Still, it seemed she would never be a match for her cousin Neji.

"G-gomen, Sakura-san! D-did I…?"

"Oh, no! I was just expecting someone…" Sakura looked sadly at the ground for a second, before returning to her fake cheery self. "Um, would you like to come in?"

"A-a-ano…I was just wondering if I could ask you something?"

The pink-haired kunoichi stepped outside the door and stood next to Hinata.

"What is it?" She questioned.

"I-it's Neji…He's out training, and he's injured but he won't let anyone help him," She looked up hopefully at Sakura.

"Stubborn boy," Her emerald eyes sparkled. "I'd be glad to. Let's go find him,"

o-o

"Neji! Stop being so obstinate!" Sakura yelled into the trees. Hinata stood sheepishly next to her.

The now Jounin leaf shinobi leapt down from the high branches, landing a few feet in front of the girls. He winced slightly when landing.

"Why am I being stubborn," He asked. Sakura's eyes traveled over the Hyuuga boy where he stood.. There didn't seem to be anything wrong; just a lot of blood around his right kneecap.

Neji watched the girls wandering eyes. With his own Byakugan enhanced ones he could tell that Sakura was disappointed, and did not want to be where she currently was.

"Hinata-sama, why did you bring Sakura here?"

Hinata hid partway behind her pink-haired friend when she answered,

"Y-you were inured,"

Neji glared at his cousin coolly. Her eyes were looking down and to the left, indicating a lie. He chose not to answer.

"Your knee looks wrong Neji," Sakura suddenly said. She walked up to him and knelt down, pulling out her small bag of medical supplies. From the bag she took a canteen of cold water and a white cloth. The healing-nin wet the cloth and started to clean off the area, much to Neji's distaste. When it was clear, Sakura knit her eyebrows together.

"Neji, your knee is covered in scratches and the kneecap is dislocated. What did you do?"

The stubborn boy had his arms crossed and was avoiding eye contact.

"Fine," the kunoichi sighed. "But you should get it straightened out." Sakura stood and then chose to grin at Neji. "Looks like taijutsu training to me," She turned back to Hinata. "Anything else?"

"N-no. Arigatou…"

The pink-haired girl waved over her shoulder as she left the cousins alone in the forest.

"I wonder what that was all about?" Sakura whispered to herself.

o-o

Once in town again, she wandered around, with her arms folded behind her back.

Konoha had finally started growing again. All the repairs had finished, the people were again safe in their homes. Sakura couldn't imagine living anywhere else.

For a few hours she continued strolling, even buying some sweets and conversing with some old friends. It wasn't until she got home that the disappointment set in.

"Sasuke-kun…"

o-o

Knock-knock

"Huh?"

Knock-knock

"What's that noise?" Sakura sat up slowly in her bed, blinking away her sleepiness.

Knock-knock

"Damn Naruto," She rubbed her green eyes and took a comb quickly to her hair.

Knock-Knock

"I'm coming!" the disgruntled kunoichi mumbled.

Kno-

"What!" she yelled, yanking the door wide open. There stood the sole Uchiha survivor, one hand in his pocket, and the other hovering where a closed door might have been.

"Oohayo," he said impassively.

"Ah! Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cried, using her ninja reflexes to push the door closed and hide her terrible appearance behind it.

"G-gomen! I - "

"-forgot about our date?" Sasuke finished her sentence calmly.

The flustered girl's face deepened further in color.

"Well…I-I-I-"

"-was thinking of going to a nicer restaurant," Sasuke was watching her reaction carefully.

"O-okay. Ano, wou-would y-you like to c-c-ome in?"

The Uchiha boy stepped inside, looking around.

Sakura's house was nice enough; there were some interesting decorations and furnishings. The old picture of "Kakashi's Team 7" hanged in the center of the far wall. Sasuke remembered that his was still face down against his dresser.

"I'm going to go…straighten out," announced Sakura, dashing down her hall. Sasuke paid no mind to the girl, just stood in the middle of her living room with his hands pushed deep within his pockets.

The raven-haired boy heard water running and wondered how long this was going to take.

o-o

Sasuke clocked her at twenty minutes.

Sakura now stood in the opening to the living room, filling the house with that fresh shower scent. She wore an embarrassed grin, and was about to apologize, when he cut her off.

"Let's just go," Sasuke said, irritation creeping into his voice.

'Why did I do this?' he asked himself. What the hell had gotten into him, asking Sakura to basically go out with him. Sasuke decided to lay that blame on the anesthetic.

And yet, here he stood six weeks later, the picture under the definition of patience. What was causing him to actually _wait_ for Sakura, much less go out with her. In public.

"Okay," the pink-haired kunoichi responded quietly.

Together they strolled, the cherry blossom following one step behind.

While they walked down the beaten dirt path the towns people gave them strange looks; anger towards Sasuke, and pity towards Sakura.

The cold boy ignored the glares, as he had ignored the rabid fan girls of his youth.

The green-eyed kunoichi, however, felt tears starting to well up in her eyes. She hated the way the people were looking at them. Sakura then jogged a few steps to catch up to Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun, where are we going?"

He stopped.

"Here,"

Sakura turned to look at the building in front of them. A large sign on the outside announced the special of the day; domburi with tempura.

The couple walked in and sat at a small booth far away from any windows. A waitress appeared, placing down cups of oshuriko. The girl seemed frightened of Sasuke, and stayed as far from him as possible.

"Would you like to order?" she directed the question towards Sakura.

"I'll have the odangos…what about you, Sasuke-kun?"

"Tokoroten," he answered, not attempting to be polite at all. The waitress scowled and then stalked off into the kitchen.

An uneasy silence followed.

"Sakura," Sasuke said suddenly, "this is not a date. Only a simple gesture,"

"I understand," the healing-nin gazed down at the table, tracing the lines in the wood with her eyes. Did she really think that it was something more?

'No…' Inner Sakura said. Even her inside self was hurt.

More silence.

"Ano, I got a new mission a few days ago," Sakura announced, trying to bring some cheer into the conversation.

Sasuke glanced at her from behind his hands.

"There were reports about some sound-nin coming close to the border, It seems they still haven't gone, and so Tsunade-sama has asked Shikamaru, Naruto, Neji, and I to go investigate. We leave tonight."

'Sound-nin…' Sasuke said to himself.

"Naruto?" His eyes widened a bit. "He's a Jounin…What rank are you at?"

"Still a chuunin," her face started turning red again in embarrassment. "Demo, I'm going to try for Jounin ranking in the exams this year."

She was almost a Jounin? According to Konoha, Sasuke was still a genin.

"Why are they sending a chuunin with three Jounin?" He asked, figuring that Neji and Shikamaru were also high-level ninja.

"I'm a healing-nin. It's known that they are hard to train, and not so many people want to be one. Also, Tsunade-sama knows I have the talent to do this level of mission,"

The raven-haired boy almost scoffed aloud. But then, he had not seen her for six years. He did not know Sakura's true level.

"How did you pass the chuunin exams? I believe they still require teams of three."

"Neji joined us."

"What about his other team members?"

"Well, Lee had gone out to help Naruto…capture…you…Umm, and Tsunade-sama punished him by not letting him try out for chuunin that year. But TenTen…she was in a horrible accident. They only found her body in the woods…analysis showed she was beaten to death and then raped. They couldn't find the person who did it."

Sasuke choked into his drink. He knew…

"Did Naruto win that chuunin tournament?"

"Hai." Now Sakura watched him carefully, expecting the anger to bubble up again. All Sasuke felt though was a small pulse of pain from the curse seal on his neck. This happened so often that he hardly noticed it any more.

Just then the waitress reappeared, setting down all the components to their meal.

"Arigatou gozaimashita," Sakura smiled. The waitress didn't return it.

"Itadakimasu," the pair said in unison, breaking apart their chopsticks. The meal passed without either saying anything. Sasuke noted that the waves of pain washing over him were growing in intensity and frequency. The pink-haired kunoichi also noticed it, in that Sasuke was flinching every few minutes.

They finished eating, still in silence. Sasuke paid the bill and walked out, Sakura trailing and thanking for the meal.

Outside, the cursed Uchiha gasped suddenly. It felt like an electric shock had shot through his body. Sasuke's hand reached up to grab the seal, as if that would make it stop pulsing.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura had just come out the door.

He was losing control.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura's hands came to rest on his back and arm.

He snapped. Sasuke whipped around and grabbed Sakura roughly just below her shoulders and slammed the girl into the wall.

"Aaa!" Tears started to stream down her cheeks. His hands were both bruising and cutting off circulation. The well-toned body of the Uchiha was now pressed up hard against hers, crushing her lungs.

"I…c-c..an't…breathe!" Sakura gasped out.

"Aghh!" Sasuke cried out again in pain, releasing his hold on the kunoichi.

"S-Sakura…run…" he hissed through grit teeth.

"N-nani!"

"RUN!" His hands were now pushing against the wall trying to give her room to move.

The cherry blossom squeezed out from beneath him, but couldn't make herself run; couldn't make herself leave him. Sasuke was now holding his head, leaning against the wall.

"S-Sasuke-kun?"

"DAMN IT! GO!" With his last remaining second of control Sasuke shoved her through the alley next to the restaurant.

As Sakura gasped, getting the breath knocked out of her, she braced her body for impact with a stone wall behind her.

Surprisingly, she hit something soft. Someone had caught her; their arms hooked under her own and holding Sakura from falling to the ground.

"Daijoubu?" It was Neji.

"H-hai!" A few seconds passed, enough time for an unwanted flush to grow on Sakura's face, "A-ano, you can let go of me now…"

"I cannot let go until you stand up," he replied.

"O-oh!" The emerald-eyed kunoichi quickly set her feet firmly on the ground.

"Arigatou, Neji-kun!"

When she looked at him, the Hyuuga noticed her eyes were a bit bloodshot, as if she had been crying. He then watched her run back off through the alley of which she'd come, wondering to himself when the suffix '-kun' had been added to his name.

Sakura turned the corner, expecting to see Sasuke passed out on the ground.

He was nowhere to be found.

"Are you looking for something?" Neji had walked up behind her, making Sakura jump.

"N-no, I just heard something," she lied.

"Hmm. How did you end up flying across the road then?"

Sakura did not know how to answer this question; therefore, she pretended not to hear.

"Are you ready for today's mission?" she asked to change the subject.

Neji narrowed his eyes. What was she hiding?

"Hai. We should be going to meet Shikamaru and Naruto now,"

Sakura nodded and gave one last look back at the restaurant before following the Byakugan user reluctantly.

o-o

"This is going to be troublesome…" came Shikamaru's distant voice.

"We've had to deal with plenty of Sound-nin before, Shikamaru! It's not bad at all!" Naruto's reply followed.

"Baka. You don't understand,"

"What? Then explain it to me!"

Shikamaru was about to say what he meant, but Naruto became distracted by the arrival of Neji and Sakura.

"Sakura-channn!" The fox-boy still insisted on calling her like this. But his kunoichi friend barely noticed. Her head was hanging low with pink hair hiding her features.

Sakura seemed to be in her own little world, because when Neji stopped moving, she kept going until she tripped over Neji and ended up wrapping her arms around his neck to stop her fall.

"Sa-Sakura…p-please collect yourself…" He choked out. Startled, Sakura released her hold and fell to her knees. Shikamaru watched as Neji held out a hand to help her up. Naruto watched the situation from a frowning squint.

"I'm so sorry, Neji-kun!" she took his hand and stood up swiftly. Shikamaru groaned when Sakura started dusting herself off.

'Women,' he thought to himself.

"Alright, let's get going," The bored looking ninja said. "Our mission is to investigate the Sound-nin inside the forest. If need be, we will engage them in combat. It's best if we travel in an order of me, Naruto, Sakura, and then Neji at the back. You all understand, right?"

The group nodded.

"Let's go,"

The leaf shinobi jumped onto the rooftops consecutively and then off into the forest surrounding Konoha village.

o-o

The further into the trees the group progressed, the darker it became. After a day or so of tracking the sound-nin, Sakura started hearing soft groans from behind her. The healing-nin looked back and noticed that Neji's kneecap still looked dislocated.

Sakura slowed herself to end up next to Neji.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

"Yes. Why?"

"Because your knee…"

"It's fine," Neji snapped. The kunoichi frowned at him.

"Geez," she whispered, moving back to her position. "What's wrong with him?"

Suddenly, up ahead, a kunai shot through the air past Shikamaru. He quickly did a flip, and landed on a higher branch, looking around carefully.

"Neji!" Shikamaru yelled back, almost accusingly.

The Byakugan was already in use. 'I can't see anything…' he thought.

Several shuriken then flew through the air and hit the trunk. All four squad members glanced over at the weapons.

'What…Shit! It's a diversion!' Shikamaru thought. It was too late to do anything now; he'd fallen for it.

"NEJI-KUN!" Sakura suddenly cried.

'Damn!' Neji realized what was happening. He could now hear the kunai behind him. There wasn't time to react.

Sakura saw the kunai and gathered chakra to her feet. She dashed in between the Neji and the kunai, spreading her arms wide. The sharp blade imbedded itself right in the dip between her shoulder blades. Sakura hissed between her teeth in pain as Neji turned to watch her whip the kunai from her shoulder blades and throw it back where it had come from.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled, his hands in the Kage Bunshin formation.

"I'm fine!"

'They know my blind spot…' thought Neji.

"Neji-kun, I've got your back…Use the Byakugan!" Sakura told him, standing up against his backside.

"Hai," Again he formed the seals to transform his eyes, looking around for any people or chakra. Sakura held up her own kunai in a defense position.

"Five people…" Neji said.

'Damn it,' Shikamaru thought to himself. 'They obviously already know our abilities…We need to draw them in…then with my shadow I can bind them and Neji can use his Divine Strike…but if they know our abilities, that will be hard. Naruto is the key…'

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto's voice echoed throughout the forest.

Shikamaru slapped his forehead with his hand. 'Damn him!'

Dozens of clones filled the forest. Neji kept his eyes on the hiding Sound-nin, anticipating an attack. Sakura's eyes darted around nervously, when she suddenly saw movement from the corner of her eye. Directly in front of her a Sound kunoichi stood smirking at the leaf-nin. The pink-haired girl pulled out another kunai and started to dash after the other ninja. Neji looked over his shoulder, surprised at the sudden rush of air.

"Six!" He yelled, but it was too late. As Sakura ran towards her target, walls shot up around the other three leaf shinobi.

"Damn!" Shikamaru cursed. He had not anticipated this.

Being the gung-ho type, Naruto tried to attack the wall, hoping to knock it down. Shikamaru extended his shadow just before he touched it.

"Don't get near it. These walls can have different effects." Naruto scowled at the shadow jutsu.

"Sakura-chan!" he then yelled. The cherry blossom stopped her pursuit, and glanced back.

"What…?" The walls confused her. Then she noticed Naruto's hands in the Kage Bunshin formation and smiled to herself.

"Got it!" Sakura whispered. The Sound-nin in front of her widened her eyes in realization. Her mouth opened to call out to her team, but it was too late. The green-eyed kunoichi launched her kunai before she could speak, and stabbed her in both the leg and side. The clones inside the shield burst into smoke, and the real Shikamaru on lower ground had cast his shadow.

"Divine 128 Strike!" Neji yelled, and sounds of combat came from below. Sakura smirked.

'Wait…' she counted in her head. It was only five! Suddenly, hands grabbed her ankles, dragging her below the branches and flipping her upside down. The leaves stifled her yelp of surprise.

"Now, Sakura, we've got you," The male ninja was slightly laughing.

"Hell no!" The kunoichi snapped her hands together and focused chakra to her feet, not only strengthening the muscles, but providing a sort of opposite magnetic effect, pushing off her captor's hands. Sakura kicked out into an aerial spin, before quickly forming a few hand seals.

"Sakura Windstorm no Jutsu!" The kunoichi crossed her arms in front of her face, and then pushed them outward, throwing what looked like harmless cherry blossoms. The sound-nin scoffed, thinking it a feint. Suddenly, the blossoms were cut through by dozens of shuriken, striking the ninja before he could cover himself. Sakura landed on a nearby branch, looking away as his knees unhooked and he fell through the brush. She waited to hear the resonating thud before jumping towards her team mates.

"It was too easy," Shikamaru stated. Neji nodded in agreement. Naruto finished tying up the other five ninja together, and then ran over to Sakura.

"Sakura-chan! Daijoubu?" He looked at the deep wound in her back from the kunai.

"What happened to the sixth sound-nin member?" The cloudy-eyed shinobi suddenly asked.

"I'm fine Naruto. The other member is in that direction." The kunoichi pointed, and Neji used his Byakugan to locate the body.

"Very little chakra. I'll go get him." Neji looked back at the healing-nin for a second, and then walked into the underbrush. He came back shortly, dragging the nin's body.

"Quite a few shuriken fell off this man as I picked him up. What did you do, Sakura?"

"It's a new technique. It hides shuriken inside of sakura blossoms. The man was unable to protect himself when the jutsu hit,"

The three boys were silent. None ever thought Sakura had the capabilities to bring someone so close to death; it seemed the kunoichi didn't know either.

o-o

"We're going to hold watch in groups tonight. I don't trust what's going on. Something tells me we haven't found our true enemy." Shikamaru glanced around the group.

"Sakura, Neji, I think you two would do best for the first half. Also, we need our healing-nin to do what she does best before we sleep."

His comrades nodded, and Sakura made a few seals.

"Does anyone need it?"

When she was answered with silence, the pink-haired shinobi shrugged and reached behind her back, sealing up the cut from the kunai.

In the next few hours the group set up their camp. Soon after a small fire had started, Shikamaru went to his tent, and Naruto did the same.

"Neji-kun, I don't care what you say, but I'm going to fix that knee for you now. It bothers me to see you in pain over it."

Sakura reached over to the stubborn boy, and placed his knee directly in front of her, using her foot to hold his leg in place.

"This time, you aren't going to get away," She grinned is a sort of scary way.

Now that they were alone, Neji had loosened up some. With her it was okay.

"Fine. I do admit it is a hindrance," The healing-nin noted that his tone was much softer. The seals came to her hands, and then the green glow grew from her fingertips to his leg.

A small sigh of relief escaped him when the kneecap returned to its original position. Sakura giggled a little.

"See? You should have done this the first time,"

Neji gave her a small glare. But for some reason it was hard to stay mad at such a girl.

The pink-haired ninja drew her legs into her chest and hugged them for warmth.

"It's a beautiful night," The Hyuuga stated after a minute. Sakura looked up, a little surprised at Neji's easy going attitude.

"Y-yes, it is,"

"Arigatou, Sakura, for taking that kunai for me," the words were strange on his tongue, as if he'd never said them before. He gave her a warm smile, something she'd never seen on his face before. Her cheeks were starting to turn pink.

"I have to protect my teammates. I'd do anything for you three," The kunoichi turned her eyes toward the boy again, and noticed he was leaning in towards her.

He was going to kiss her.

What had spurred this attraction?

She was even going along with it!

'Sasuke…' but even thoughts of the Uchiha didn't stop her.

As Neji's face neared her Sakura closed her eyes, waiting for his lips to connect with her own…

o-o

A/N: I love cliff-hangers! Will they kiss or not! Not even I know yet!

I want to thank all of my reviewers…because of you guys, I put off all my homework to write these stories

Sorry if the writing seems to be different as the story moves…I had been writing by hand, and then typing, but it's hard to stay ahead. I do have ideas to keep the plot moving, but it's going to be hard to fill in the blank spots.

Got to work a bit on my website this weekend, so the next chapter might not be up till next week. I'm trying to keep them long for you!

Ja!


	4. Dead

**DISCLAIMER: **Oh! I forgot about this…Well, sadly, I don't own Naruto. And I didn't own him in the previous chapters either

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Something rustled in the bushes.

"Are?" Sakura instinctively turned her head to look, forgetting the current situation she was in.

Neji, with his eyes closed now, did not notice the kunoichi turn her head, and continued to lean forward. After a few seconds, and no contact, his eyes snapped open in confusion. Neji's eyes followed Sakura's, and he failed to notice his precarious positioning. Now that the boy's attention was drawn away from balance, he lost it, and then fell flat on top of Sakura who squealed in surprise.

"N-nani…Neji-kun?"

Of course, at this time the thing in the bushes chose to show itself.

Sasuke and Lee promptly walked in on the scene.

For a few seconds there was silence as the four stared at one another. Sakura's face was quickly changing to a deep, deep red.

"Nan de…" she whispered to herself. Neji seemed to be in a state of shock and didn't come to grips with how seriously wrong the current state he was in was; and how questionable his position looked.

Sasuke, often referred to as the human ice cube, averted his eyes and managed to show no emotion.

Lee on the other hand…

"Sakura-san!" He cried out incredulously. "Neji!"

At this outburst Shikamaru and Naruto had woken, each jumping out from their tents with kunai in their hands.

Again silence ensued.

"What the hell?" Naruto roared. This caused Neji to start and realize where he was. He quickly picked himself up which allowed Sakura room to breathe again.

Shikamaru just sighed angrily, a vein pulsing in his temple.

Neji scowled, trying to act like nothing happened and hide any blush that dare penetrate his face.

Both Naruto and Lee were now yelling at Neji. Sakura used this distraction to stand and approach Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun…Why are you here?" She asked. The boy continued to stare off into the distance.

"If a mission has to do with Sound-nin, it has to do with me. I spoke with Tsunade-sama about this. She agreed to let me go as long as I brought Lee." He then turned and grabbed a hold of Sakura's wrist.

"Come with me. We have something to discuss."

"Wh-what? If it's about Nej-"

"No," Sasuke cut her off sharply and started leading her through the woods.

No one but Shikamaru noticed them leave.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Where are we going?" Sakura asked a minute later. She was answered with only the chirping of birds and footsteps on the forest floor.

After another minute of walking Sasuke stopped moving. They were in grove of trees, lush with a multitude of plants.

Insulation.

The kunoichi's heart skipped a beat. Sakura swallowed hard.

"A-ano-"

"Did you tell anyone?" The raven-haired boy asked bluntly, staring straight into her emerald eyes.

The cherry blossom was having trouble keeping her eyes up.

"Tell…what?"

"About yesterday," his dark eyes never blinked.

Oh.

"N-no! I-but-why? What happened-I!" She had unconsciously pushed the moment out of her mind, but it all came flooding back to her, and she was unable to form a complete sentence. Sakura then absent mindedly rubbed her arms where the bruises from his fingers were.

Sasuke's face shifted slightly and he looked a tad relieved.

"Demo, why does it matter Sasuke? What happened?"

"You can't tell anyone about it, Sakura." He used her name to emphasize his point.

"Why Sasuke! Why won't you let anyone help you? I don't understand…!"

"No one needs to know."

"But Sasuke!"

"Damn it, Sakura!" His hand flew past her face and punched the tree behind her. "You-"

Sasuke's eyes suddenly grew wide, his voice and mouth cut off.

Sakura had pushed herself forward, locking her soft lips onto his own.

The wind blew softly and leaves sparkled in the small rays of sunlight, celebrating the moment.

The kiss was short and unrequited. Somehow, though, it felt life-changing all the same. Sakura pulled her face away and then wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. Tears were falling down her cheeks now, and when she laid her head on his chest they soaked through his shirt.

"You're so cold and alone, Sasuke…but like this, you're so warm," There was a tiny smile on her face.

Sasuke was stunned. Never…this had never…He was in shock. The boy's outstretched arm fell limp next to his side.

She needed to let go. It was a plain and simple fact. Sasuke resisted, not actually wanting this to happen. His curse seal was now starting to pain him more, a constant reminder that letting go was more important. If she didn't he could end up hurting her again.

"It's all I wanted…to just be here with you, for you, a confident. A constant." Sakura's tears fell harder. "Why do you still refuse people…" her voice grew softer, "Refuse me…?"

"Let go of me."

The words came out all wrong. Sakura instantly released him, stepping back from the Uchiha.

Sasuke was mentally berating himself. He watched as she drew her hand to her mouth and turned, dashing away into the underbrush. Once out of eyesight, Sasuke fell against the tree and slid to a seating position, holding the curse seal and staring at his shaking right hand.

"Damn it," he cursed. "Damn Orochimaru. Damn my dead brother. Damn everyone!"

Everything Sasuke ever wanted was always taken from him. His family, his status, his…

Sakura had always said she loved him. Now, she had shown it. But…

Sasuke didn't know what love was.

He didn't understand. After losing the entire Uchiha clan, he had sealed himself up, fearing to have a like for anything, lest it be destroyed again.

Why had he refused Sakura?

She would be in the way. If he thought about her, he could never reach his potential. He didn't want more people involved in his downward spiral.

But it was over now. Itachi was dead.

Orochimaru was not.

Sasuke cursed again. What did the bastard want with him now? Was he still after his body and sharingan? Why was it reacting whenever he was close to Sakura?

Sasuke hit the ground with his fist, and then stood up to follow the pink-haired girl's path.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Silly Sasuke-kun," said an evil, dark, and somewhat raspy voice that echoed through the shadowed room. "Run away from me the first time. Avoided me the second. But he does not know that I can still control him."

_- "In return from gaining power from the cursed seal you will be under Orochimaru-sama's control. We have no freedom." -_

"However, Sasuke has become an annoyance. I do not have the patience to wait for my soldiers to catch him, and if I were to go to him now, Tsunade or Jiraiya would be in my way,"

Glasses flashed in the darkness.

"You have given up on him?"

"Oh, no, no. I know there is more than one way to catch an Uchiha, however."

"An heir…" muttered the man with glasses.

"I am immortal. I have the time to wait for it. And then, I will destroy Konoha."

Laughter rang through the shadowed room.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Sakura had run for a while now. She had reached a clearing; a grassy meadow with flowers blooming all around. The kunoichi was in no mood to enjoy it now however. She had fallen to her knees and was crying just like she had six years ago.

"Why…" She whispered. "Why?"

"Sakura?"

The pink-haired girl jumped at the voice. She quickly wiped her eyes, trying to hide the fact that she was crying.

"Neji-kun…" She looked up at him. "H-how did you find me?" She asked. Sakura wasn't even aware that he had followed her the entire time. Remembering what had happened just a half-hour ago, she started turning pink. It was a strange combination, blushing and crying.

'Crying again,' thought Neji. Damn Uchiha.

"Sakura," he said again, "Have you ever wondered why so many Ninja have expressed 'feelings' for you?"

"N-nani? Why are you asking me this?" She looked up at his tall figure.

"Many men around your age are feeling pressure from their relatives to marry." Neji continued, ignoring her questions. "They want to have someone to carry on their clan incase they die some time soon in a mission. A Ninja's life is very unpredictable."

Sakura's brows were pushing together in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" She asked.

"When the Ninja are walking the streets, or on missions, they pay attention to the kunoichi, judging which girl they would have advance their clan. Frankly, there aren't many women your age who are both Shinobi and possess strength. Ino has Shikamaru. Hinata…well, she's my cousin. TenTen…" He trailed off.

_- "Neji, have you found someone suitable to bear an heir to the family? With your skills, a child could become extremely powerful, given the right mother." _

_The boy turned his head to the side. "TenTen," he said._

_"You know she's gone."_

_"There is one other. She's on my team." -_

"Not to say there is no attraction. I suppose that would be useful for…" Neji stopped again. Sakura had pulled herself to her feet and backed up from the boy. The girl was sickened by his words. Was it all really true?

"Neji…"

"Love is no longer considered a legitimate reason to marry." Neji stepped forward, coming closer to her. "Sakura, I -"

His eyes suddenly grew wide.

"What?" Sakura asked. His body movements had stopped entirely. "What?" She asked more forcefully this time. Neji coughed, and blood spattered onto Sakura's face. "Neji!" She cried, as the boy coughed again. Sakura raised her arm to block the fluid. The Hyuuga fell face forward onto the ground. That's when Sakura could see the kunai sticking straight out from between his shoulder blades. Her body tensed instantly. Who had thrown…

Several more weapons flew past her head. She ducked instinctively and then jumped into the trees. She heard more sounds of whistling and jumped away, running through the open area. Another kunai passed in front of her, and more shuriken around her body.

"What the hell?" Sakura asked as she ran. A kunai was now positioned in her hand.

Sudden laughter made her stop. Yet another kunai flew through the air towards her head. She lifted her own to stop it, and was shocked when the knife disappeared as it hit.

"Genjutsu!" The kunoichi was shocked. She then felt something cut her cheek. It was just a small cut, and a drop of blood fell from it, but then several more followed. They were all over; making rips in her clothes and drawing blood from all exposed skin.

More laughter. Sakura tried to bring her hands together to focus chakra, but found only one would move. Her left hand was frozen in mid-air.

"Wires…" She said in realization. When her attacker had thrown the illusions, he had been hiding wires within them, and now she was caught in their web! Sakura struggled for a few more seconds, thinking she could break the string surrounding her. It was futile. If she moved, she'd only get cut up worse.

"Damn it…" The kunoichi raised her right hand, and formed a fist. For a second she concentrated, and then drove her hand into the Earth directly in front of her, releasing her chakra in an instant. The ground broke apart beneath her and rocks jutted up all around. As she fell, she heard snapping. Her left arm felt free now, and she chanced movement. Her body part now moved as she wished, and Sakura quickly formed a few seals, and when the girl landed on the ground, her body started to disappear. It was a move she had begged Kurenai to teach her, one the Jounin had used against Itachi at one point. It would make her look invisible to people and give an opening to attack.

Since Sakura knew the area above her was free of wires, she jumped up as high as possible, and made her way towards the edge of the forest. She luckily made it with only a few more cuts.

"Now, where is he?" She asked herself.

"You'll never find me," Answered a voice, echoing around the area, making it impossible to pinpoint. Sakura pulled out a kunai and daringly threw it into the bushes. Without warning it was thrown back at her.

'Another illusion?' Sakura ducked it, and the kunai went straight through the tree. Sakura looked down, her emerald eyes searching. What could she do? Her gaze found the hole she'd made in the ground.

'If I continue that, I'll be underneath his wires…' She thought. The cherry blossom aimed herself toward her previous attack and she leapt from the tree, landing another chakra punch, breaking the ground apart even more. To her surprise, a man was standing before her.

"Genjutsu," He said. Sakura had found herself again and dashed behind him, still invisible. She continued to use the jutsu, making a tree appear out of thin air and its roots catching the man. He did not struggle though. Sakura emerged from the tree, ready to strike, when she felt extremely hot. Burning hot…

Sakura screamed in pain. The illusion was gone, and now it was just her lying on the ground covered in dirt and scratches. The man was standing just a few feet away smirking. The kunoichi pulled herself up and went to a direct attack. Her foot was about to connect with her attacker when she again felt like she was on fire. Her leg was…burning? The sound-nin laughed. She aimed a fist for his face. Just as she was about to connect she saw it. A burning chakra had grown around him, and touching it was like touching fire. She instantly jumped back. Close range would not work.

"Do you like it? My special ability - turning chakra into fire. You can't touch me for fear of third degree burns."

Sakura glared at him. But what he said was true. She already felt the blisters on her exposed leg mixing with the pain of her numerous cuts. The foreign ninja then jumped out of the small hole Sakura had made, daring her to follow. There was no way. If she went back up she would be severed by the wires. If she tried to get close, he would burn her. Could she withstand the burns? The girl ran and punched the earth wall, breaking a hole. She started digging, thinking that her idea could work. Above, the sound-nin laughed.

"We'll catch you eventually Sakura. It is what he desires."

There was no response. Sakura was underground, pushing herself up to where he stood. Her hand then exploded from the dirt, latching onto his ankle. Immediately she felt the burning pain. But she had to stand it; there was no other way to get close.

Sakura's cries of pain were muffled by the dirt around her. With her opposite hand she punched the ground above, breaking lose the dirt and dragging the man down to her level. He gasped, not expecting her be able to do such a thing. Her hand would now likely be suffering third-degree burns. Sakura held in the tears of pain and pulled out a kunai. Without thinking she plunged it into her surprised attacker right below his left shoulder…his heart. Now the sound-nin screamed, and both hit the ground. Sakura was cradling her hand, not fully realizing what she had done.

When she steadied herself again, the kunoichi glanced up to see what the man was doing. She gasped; his chest was covered in blood and the kunai…

The kunai was sticking straight out from where his heart should be.

"Damn girl. Sooner or later we will catch you," his voiced faded with every syllable until he became lifeless, limp, and then dead.

Dead.

The word echoed around her mind as she crawled out of the hole in ground, being careful to avoid using her opposite hand. The girl's mind was absolutely numb, the tears flowing unchecked.

Sakura lifted her shaking, burned hand, covered in blood and cuts.

Dead. He was dead. She'd never…never…

'Dead. You killed him. And you didn't even think about doing it.' Her inner-self was accusing her. Sakura's eyes closed. The pain and the shock of death were filling her. All she could see now was black as consciousness faded from her.

Sasuke managed to catch Sakura before she collapsed to the ground.

He had watched the entire thing. And, if Sasuke were to be honest with himself, he would say that he was somewhat amazed.

**This** was Haruno Sakura? **This** as little crybaby Sakura who was always in need of rescuing?

She had just killed someone. It wasn't that he was appalled; Sasuke had killed several men before. No, Sasuke might've actually been proud. Sakura had truly grown up. It was just a shame the fact had caused the girl to faint.

The Uchiha had remembered a few things from the academy about first aid, one of them being something about putting the knees above the head when someone faints. So Sasuke set her down on flat ground and pulled her knees onto a rock she'd unearthed during her fight.

'Where did she get such massive strength?' He wondered.

Sasuke then walked over to where Neji was still laying unconscious.

"Hyuuga, your ability is useless if everyone knows about the blind-spot." The raven-haired boy reached down and wrenched the kunai from his back. Neji was lucky that it had not gone deep enough to strike his spinal cord.

'Why had he been knocked out so easily?'

Sasuke took a step to the right and saw a small sparkle. The boy kneeled down and pushed Neji's long black hair out of the way. Two senbon were stuck through his neck. Sasuke proceeded to pull these out, which caused Neji to twitch and start coughing. The Uchiha was strongly reminded of his fight so long ago with the boy named Haku.

"Uchiha," Neji hissed, pushing himself off of the ground and turning to face the boy. Sasuke showed no emotion, just stuck his hands in his pockets. He then walked out of Neji's line of sight and heard the boy gasp.

"What the…what the hell happened?"

"After you were put into sleep by these," he held up the senbon, "Sakura was attacked by a sound-nin."

"Ah," apparently the Hyuuga wasn't new to her abilities.

"Is she okay? Do you even care?"

"I did not take the time to examine her. However, she did faint after realizing she had killed her attacker."

"Killed…" Neji trailed off. "Fine. I'll wait until she wakes up. You can go tell the others we're okay."

Sasuke watched Neji stroll towards the fallen Kunoichi.

"No. I don't trust you alone with her," He announced bluntly. Neji looked over his shoulder at the sharingan user and smirked,

"Oh? Taken a sudden interest in Sakura now?" His voice was taunting.

"She's my teammate,"

Neji laughed uncharacteristically.

"Did you think about that when you left her crying her eyes out in Konoha six years ago? You weren't there to see her desperation."

That was a stab in the gut. Sasuke chose not to reply. There wasn't anything he could really say. Yes, his actions had been selfish. No one would ever understand though.

"After being her teammate for only six months I was able to see the true strength in her. She just never chose to show it until you left. She would cry at night, and during the day train with Tsunade, Naruto, and I until she was dead tired. She blamed herself, you know. She thought it was her own fault you left. Sakura thought that if she was stronger she could have stopped you; that you would have cared for her more. Damn it Sasuke, you've been killing the most skilled kunoichi Konoha has had in a long time."

The dark eyed boy looked away. No one would ever understand.

But the question now remained: What did Orochimaru want with Sakura?

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

A/N: Hope this cleared up some things for you. Bah, I have it all in my head, it just resists coming down. I usually dream about this stuff and that's where it comes from

Thanks so much for the reviews! You make me so happy

PLEAS LET ME KNOW IF YOU'RE CONFUSED! I tend to do this in my stories…

Yeah, I know, Neji is completely OOC. But whatever. It's been six years

Sasuke will start to be OOC here soon too.


	5. Awaken

"I think she's waking up,"

Two blurry figures floated above her. Sakura blinked a few times in an attempt to clear her vision but it didn't seem to work too well. However, the kunoichi could still identify the faces without difficulty.

Sasuke and Neji were kneeling and leaning over her semi-conscious body. Sakura felt suddenly insecure. Here were the two people she least wanted to see. One the girl had kissed and the other had tried to kiss her -

Ow.

With her regaining consciousness came pain. Sakura tried to lift one hand but found it impossible - the movement caused her to gasp and cringe.

'Don't cry…' She commanded herself. Crying would make it worse.

She cautiously tried her other hand. This one wasn't as stubborn and complied with her request to hover, palm up, over her face.

"Sakura?" Asked one boy. She couldn't tell who it was at the moment.

"Is this what it feels like?" Her green-eyes examined the dried blood and long thin slice across the back of her hand. No voice responded to her question.

'Maybe they didn't understand it…?'

"Is this what it feels like to kill someone?" Sakura asked again. Another uncomfortable silence followed. Her hand dropped back to the ground and she examined their faces. Both were showing a blank concern.

"Now that's she awake we should return to the camp. Shikamaru will have a better idea of what to do."

'Ah, that's Neji,' thought Sakura.

"Sakura, can you sit up?"

The pink-haired girl tried, and found it was much like doing an abs exercise. She realized her legs were placed high upon a rock. That explained it. Quickly she pulled them down to a decent pose.

That was a mistake.

The rush of blood was making her sick. Sakura blanched, the unhurt hand placed over her mouth. She sat hunched over for a second and a comforting hand was placed on her back.

'Neji…'

Once that spell passed, Sakura dared to glance down at her damaged hand. It had been badly wrapped up with gauze that she suspected had been taken from her own medical pack.

Absentmindedly Sakura wondered who'd done it.

Slowly, so as not to disturb the skin and pain receptors, the kunoichi started to unroll the bandages.

"Save that for back at camp. We need to get away from here."

'Sasuke…'

"Uchiha is right," Neji offered out his hand. Sakura gazed at it for a second before accepting and getting to her feet rather wobbly. The boy took her undamaged hand and placed it around his shoulder before wrapping his own around her thin waist.

Sasuke watched this, feeling a tinge of something he didn't understand very well. The raven-haired boy didn't like how low Neji's hand was on her waist, or how comfortable she was with it.

"Neji-kun! You don't have to do this, I can walk," Sakura was feebly trying to push him away.

"Sakura, from what I heard it was a bloody battle. Just accept my help,"

'Where did he hear it from?' The girl wondered. She glanced back at Sasuke who was standing with his face twisted in an odd way.

"Sasuke?"

His head snapped up and the expression returned to normal.

"Let's just go,"

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The pace was slow enough that Sakura could start thinking. She had to, or else the pain would become overwhelming.

'Neji and Sasuke…Funny how similar they are,' Sakura thought a bit randomly. 'Both have dark hair, blank faces, a desire for power, and similar eye abilities.' The kunoichi vaguely wondered who would win in a fight. 'And their personalities are a bit on the cold side.'

Sakura chanced a glance at the Uchiha heir. A blush ran over her cheeks but disappeared as soon as it came; he had rejected her. Again.

Neji had said some interesting things as well.

'Love is no longer a legitimate reason to marry…' He must have been indicating to her Sasuke obsession. But why would he care?

'Baka, he tried to kiss you,' replied Inner Sakura. 'Obviously he has some sort of feelings for you.'

She ignored the voice. He couldn't…

Sakura stumbled a bit when Neji stopped walking. They had arrived at the camp where Naruto and Lee were bickering and Shikamaru was gazing at the treetops and trying to ignore the noises. At the trio's entrance, the two passionate young men stood and rushed over.

"Sakura-chan!" They yelled unanimously. Neji released his hold on her and promptly stepped out of the way for fear of his life.

"Sakura-san, are you okay?" Lee asked, sincerely concerned.

"I'll kick the ass of whoever's responsible!" Naruto yelled.

"You won't need to do that…" Sakura replied, but it was lost in his ranting.

"What happened to your arm?" They asked together again. This was getting kind of scary. Sakura lifted the limb carefully.

Naruto reached out to grab it for closer inspection, but was met with her opposite fist.

Sasuke smirked from his position a bit further away.

"Dumbass, you don't try to touch someone's injury,"

"Shut up bastard!" Naruto hissed at him.

Sakura was now undoing the terrible wrapping job one of the boys had done. It was surprising that they weren't very good, as Neji always had bandages on one side of his body and Sasuke usually had his chidori arm covered.

Lee and Naruto pulled back a bit as blackened skin was revealed. The pink and red flesh underneath was also sickening to the eyes. It covered almost her entire hand up to a quarter of her forearm.

"This is a pretty bad one," Sakura commented, as if it was nothing. Truly, she was hiding tears.

'I can't cry in front of Sasuke-kun anymore…' She thought.

"Can someone hand me a new roll?" The healing-nin asked after throwing the puss and blood covered one aside. Sasuke revealed he was holding her medical pouch, dug through it, and tossed her an unused roll of gauze.

"Thanks," She started to expertly wrap up the offending wound, being careful to place extra layers over the extremely blackened areas. She knew this wouldn't be of much help, but it would be easier on the eyes and stop anymore bleeding that occurred.

Shikamaru looked around the group as she did this.

"Sakura has to go back to the village," He announced rather abruptly. All the men's eyes turned to him. "Someone will have to go with her," the bored Jounin continued.

It was true. They had six shinobi here, and only four were needed, and safe, for a mission. It was the matter of deciding who would go. Shikamaru knew that Naruto and Lee both would jump at the chance but he didn't think that was the best answer. Using his excellent observation skills, he'd seen that Neji and Sasuke were rather tense with one another, avoiding eye contact all together. One of them would go.

Shikamaru considered all the options. If Neji went, he'd be stuck with a brooding Sasuke who would constantly bicker with both Lee and Naruto. Not to mention he wasn't too fond of the ninja.

If Sasuke went, Neji would be angry but he was a smart enough boy, and respected his leadership. Whatever was best for the mission, he would do it.

"Sasuke, you're the best option to take Sakura back,"

"What!" That was strange. He had expected Sakura to squeal with glee, not exclaim and drop her work.

Sasuke was glaring at him as well. But that was to be expected.

"Don't ask troublesome questions," Shikamaru lifted his head to the sky, and that was that. He was not changing his mind; that would also be too troublesome.

Sasuke exhaled slowly. He couldn't explain why it was such a bad idea or he could find himself in some serious trouble. But then, how could he accompany her?

Distance. He'd keep distance.

Sakura had long ago picked up the roll and finished with her binding. She was now creating a sort of sling to keep to arm from moving too much. She didn't know if there was bone damage and it was best to keep it from moving too much because of the pain.

"Sa-Sasuke-kun, should we start off?" Her voice was oddly quiet. Only the mentioned knew why.

"Hn." He leapt gracefully onto a nearby tree branch. Sakura sighed, but it wasn't as if she was expecting help from him. She followed his lead, albeit with a bit less poise than he.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

It had been a couple of hours. Sakura had managed to keep up with his pace for a little, but the blood loss was starting to affect her. If only Kiba was here; he'd have one of those blood regenerating pills. But no, it was just the dark boy in front of her.

Sasuke had noticed her slowing down quite a while ago. The kunoichi was doing a terrible job of hiding it. He found himself gaining more and more distance, until she finally stopped, falling to her knees on a tree branch. The Uchiha heir also halted, and backtracked a few meters. He watched as she swayed on the branch, almost falling forward, but grabbing a branch at the last instant. He realized he'd been ready to spring and catch her.

Some of her cuts were still bleeding, or had reopened.

"I-I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun…I'm always a burden to you," Her breath was short.

"Damn it," The boy cursed under his breath. There was no way they'd make it out of here anytime soon if she was like this. Damn Shikamaru. Her chakra and strength was too low to leave.

'Don't cry…' She was thinking again. The sky was already growing very dark.

'I don't want to spend the night with her,' Sasuke was thinking. 'Then again, will the curse react if I do 'that'?' He folded his arms. 'Strictly business,'

"Sakura, let me carry you. If we stay here too long it's going to cause problems,"

"What? No…Sasuke-kun, it's enough trouble that you have to escort me," She was trying to stand now, as if to prove she was okay. Sakura easily lost her footing, and would have fallen had Sasuke not jumped over and grabbed her wrist to stop the momentum.

"You don't understand the danger of this situation. If we are caught by sound-nin you will be the obvious target. Without the ability to form seals, how will you protect yourself?"

It was rhetorical, and she knew it. 'How could I not have realized I'd not be able to call my chakra?' Not that she had much left anyways.

"You're right…" he was still holding onto her good wrist. "Still…I don't want you to have to be bothered by me,"

'I don't want to be his problem any longer,' Sakura thought to herself.

"I am doing this for my own safety."

That stung more than her burns.

"How…How are you planning to carry me?" The kunoichi had given in. "I can't exactly hold onto your shoulders very well if it's piggyback…and it's hard to move too fast when you're only supporting me…" She trailed off, blushing at the thought of the only option left.

Sasuke closed his eyes for a second. 'Strictly business,' He assured himself, then kicked out Sakura's knees from underneath and caught her, now jumping from branch to branch faster than before and carrying her bridal-style. His seal started to prickle, but not as badly as before.

Sakura had closed her eyes, trying to pretend it wasn't him. Though she was secretly happy about this, she knew it meant nothing to Sasuke. Maybe…maybe it was time to give up on the Uchiha…

'No!' cried Inner Sakura. 'Hell no!'

'Ino was completely wrong about boys…' Her mind was wandering again. 'Sasuke doesn't give a damn about how I look. I could be standing stark-naked in front of him and he'd just walk off without a word. I need to prove to him that I am strong. I want to make him open his eyes, finally notice me…'

Exhaustion was taking over. Before Sakura knew it, she had fallen asleep in Sasuke's arms.

The boy sighed when he felt her start to go limp. This was just great. He wondered how the Hokage would react when he arrived in her office, carrying a sleeping, bleeding, burned Sakura bridal-style.

The thought almost brought a smile to his face.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The next day Sakura woke up staring at a white ceiling.

'Oh…I must have fallen asleep,' she thought, clearing her confusion. This made her blush once again. 'I feel asleep in Sasuke-kun's arms…' a smile crossed her face. She was also feeling much better. Tsunade-sama must have done some healing work on the burn last night. It didn't hurt to lift the arm as much now, and upon inspection, the burned area looked normal again. All that was left were some ugly scars. It must have taken some serious manipulation to make the skin grow back. The kunoichi made a decision to always wear something on that arm.

She sighed and flopped back down onto the rather uncomfortable hospital pillow. The sun streaming in her window told the girl it was near midday.

Sakura's head turned when she heard her door click.

"Sasuke?" He was looking awfully serious.

"You're awake." She sat up and nodded.

"Umm, thanks for carrying me home," Her bangs covered the inevitably red face. "But there's something I wanted you to answer for me…" The pink-haired girl trailed off, waiting for consent to ask the question.

In actuality, she had two. She wanted to know what had made him come visit her in the first place. But the other was a more pressing matter. After a minute of silence, she continued.

"Is…is this how I'm supposed to feel after killing someone?" Guilt was eating her away inside, but it was guilt for betraying her trade as a healing-nin. Naruto had always done the final blows when they did missions together. In fact, she turned her head away when he did it too. Now that she'd killed someone so readily, it felt like…nothing. She was officially a tool.

Sasuke had sat down in a chair next to her bed, surprising Sakura. His face was unreadable as always, but his eyes looked troubled.

"I…I killed him…" he whispered, eyes looking down at his hands.

'Why do I always do this…' he asked himself. More than once Sasuke'd found himself confessing something to her, or telling her something about his past. It was during survival training when he'd wasted time telling her he was an avenger out to kill someone.

Sakura understood what he meant, but not the emotion behind it or the reasoning for saying it to her. Somehow the girl's hand had found its way onto his back making what was supposed to be small comforting circles. Maybe it was because that's what her mother always did when she felt sad as a child.

Sasuke reacted instantly. He swatted her hand away and stood up, anger now evident in his features.

"Don't treat me like a child," he hissed. Sakura was taken aback that he'd be so angry about a simple thing. The next words she said didn't even register with her brain before they escaped her lips.

"But that's what you are…a scared, lost child,"

Sasuke's eyes widened before narrowing again. He stormed out of the room, obviously troubled.

What she had said was true, and both of them knew it.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

A few days later…

Sakura hid quietly behind the corner of a building. At the moment she did not want to be alone with Sasuke, although she had reason to believe he knew the girl was somewhere close. He kept looking over his shoulder as if expecting something.

"SAKura…-ch…an?" Finally Naruto had shown up. Apparently he had been expecting to see Sakura standing around; he must've felt her chakra too. The kunoichi had been waiting so she could use Naruto as a buffer between Sasuke and herself.

Quietly she slipped from her hiding spot, acting as if she'd just been walking down the road. Naruto turned at her footsteps, that big smile on his face in greeting. Sasuke narrowed his eyes. So she had been hiding.

"Oohayo Naruto, Sasuke." A fake cheery hello that was typical of the girl. "Ano, what do you think Kakashi wants with us today?"

Naruto folded his arms as if in deep thought. This made Sakura chuckle, seeing the seriousness on his face. Sasuke had secretly been wondering the same thing, but chose not to express this.

"Maybe we have a mission?" That was a reasonable explanation. "Yatta!" The fox-boy was overjoyed. He hadn't been spending much time with Sakura lately, only his group of somewhat neglected genins. As for that bastard Sasuke…He still could never forgive him.

"Maybe we should make bets on how late Kakashi-sensei will be today," Sakura suggested. Now that they made enough money it would be just fun gambling. Tsunade had taught her many more things than just techniques, though most people told her not to take the Hokage's betting advice. Naruto pulled out his frog wallet, and saw he had a few bills.

"Sure Sakura-chan, but maybe we should make this more than just a bet on money…" he was grinning mischievously.

"Baka!" Sakura used her fist to bop the blonde on the head. "Never mind it then."

A few hours later…

Sakura was sitting on the bridge planks, mindlessly flipping her bangs around. This was ridiculous. Sasuke stood the same way he always did, holding himself high with hands in his pockets. Naruto was pacing, muttering curses to himself.

"Damn it, I'm just gonna leave from now on if Kaka-"

"Yo!" The familiar pop of a person appearing was followed by this simple statement. "I heard a strange noise in the bushes and I had to go see what it was and-"

There was no loud proclamation about what a liar he was this time. Sakura rolled her eyes, and Naruto gripped his hands in fists. He had been expecting to do some training on a new move Jiraiya had taught him. Sasuke merely grunted.

Kakashi'd been hoping for the same reactions of long ago, but it seemed that age and experience changed them. He sighed.

"Ah, sorry guys. Well, you're probably going to hate me, but Tsunade won't give me a mission for you."

"Why?" It was Sasuke who asked this time.

"She doesn't trust you," he looked at the scowling Uchiha, "and she's afraid Sakura might still be suffering from the burn," It was Sakura's turn to glare slightly. Her hand was just fine! It must be a cover up for when she...Sakura paled. It still made her a little sick to think about it.

"I guess that's all," Kakashi shrugged. There was really nothing else. Sasuke made a sort of 'tch' sound before walking back across the bridge towards home.

"Ma-matte, Sasuke-kun,"

Sakura had thought about what she was going to say for a long time. It was something she had to do, the one goal she'd been training for. Sasuke turned, his eyes narrowed. She could already see the words forming on his mouth, the refusal he was planning.

"Fight me," Sakura blurt out before the boy could say anything.

Now this was a surprise. In fact, Sasuke stood there with his mouth open for a few seconds before registering what she'd just said. He snapped his jaw back in embarrassment, now fighting the strange urge to laugh. Fight her?

"Sakura-chan, what?" Naruto also was stopped in his tracks. His brows were furrowed in confusion and a bit of fear.

Sakura sucked in another deep breath. "Fight me," the girl repeated, her voice growing stronger. Kakashi cocked his head to the side. This was interesting.

"Is this a joke Sakura?" A small sinister smile was upon Sasuke's face.

"No." Such confidence. The smile faltered.

"Wait, Sakura-chan," Naruto tried to speak up again.

"Naruto, you know I have to do this," She didn't break her gaze with those onyx eyes.

"I can't fight you,"

Without warning, something very hard hit Sasuke in the cheek. Nothing was really damaged except his pride. The punch was powerful, he would admit, but she hadn't used chakra. He could possibly he fifty feet away from where he was standing if she did. The Uchiha heir lifted his hand to his cheek, now glaring at the kunoichi. But Sakura was too busy looking at her shaking hand to notice.

'I just…I just punched Sasuke-kun…'

Naruto's jaw nearly hit the floor.

"Let's get this over with," Sasuke hissed, and he jumped off into the surrounding trees, heading towards their normal training grounds. With a small gulp, Sakura followed. What had she gotten herself into?

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

A/N: Yay! New chapter! And I already have a good idea for the next. Hope this one didn't go too fast for you…I feel like I was babbling actually...heh

I HEART ALL MY REVIEWERS! IDO read every single one, and save them ALL in my inbox!

Anyways, just so you don't think Neji is 'suddenly in love with Sakura,' remember that they've been training together and stuff for quite a while, and Sakura tends to…grow on people. Yeah.

Ummm...Yup! Sasuke and Sakura are going to fight! It's going to be hell to choreograph though

I think I'll answer some more questions in the next chapter. Also you might find the ending of the fight a little bit surprisng...

Ja!

Hisui


	6. Alone

Disclaimer: Naruto's not actually mine. Fooled you!

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

He glared at her from across the open field. There was no way. No way in hell he was going to let her get away with what she did. No way would she beat him either.

Sasuke stood with his arms firmly folded. He'd never really bothered to look at his teammate before now. She had a purple diamond on her forehead…Interesting. Tsunade must have placed it there. The way she stood with a kunai in her hand and the wind whipping her pink locks around her determined face…Sakura almost came across intimidating. Sasuke did a small flip of his head to push his own hair out of his eyes, a sort of bored look now on his features.

"Kakashi, are you sure this is a good idea…?" Naruto and the silver-haired Jounin were sitting a ways off, watching the stare down.

"It's Sakura's decision,"

The blonde sighed, his fists clenched. "I don't want that bastard to hurt her though,"

Kakashi didn't really reply. He was just as curious about this and maybe even anxious too. Icha Icha Paradise wasn't even in the copy-ninja's hand.

Yet another minute passed without movement. Sakura was desperately gathering her courage and strength.

'My goal is to make Sasuke open his eyes. If I can force him to use the sharingan then my mission is accomplished,' Sakura slightly nodded her head, as if giving herself the go-ahead.

"Hah!" With one rapid motion the girl threw her kunai at Sasuke. He smirked and disappeared, now directly behind her. Sakura had anticipated this and lunched off from the ground into a back flip.

His grin widened. Baka.

"Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!" Several small balls of flame burst from his mouth. Now that she was in the air there was no where to go. He vaguely wondered if she had a fear of fire after that burn.

One of the flame balls hit her body, causing it to poof and reveal a log.

'Damn, Kawarimi. Why didn't I see it?'

'Only one?' Thought Kakashi in the tree. Was Sasuke just playing with her?

Suddenly Sasuke whipped around in place, grabbing hold of a shuriken that had been flying towards his back.

'She's hidden her presence,' He thought. Again it was a standstill. Sasuke tossed the shuriken towards some bushes. There was a shudder, and then several birds scattered.

'There!' She had jumped out from the trees and quickly formed some seals in a pattern that Sasuke did not recognize. Her hands thrust forward, several cherry blossoms spreading throughout the area. For a split second he stood hypnotized.

'Genjutsu!' his mind yelled at him. Sasuke quickly bit his lip, the pain drawing the raven-haired boy back to reality where dozens of tiny spinning blades were rushing towards him. With a few quick motions he caught some and then used those to counter the others. Sakura was rushing towards him behind the attack, more kunai in her hands.

'Where does she keep all of these?' He wondered. His body was positioned to take her attack head on, when she flung the knives and made another set of seals.

'Nani?' His eyes became wide when Sakura opened her mouth and blew a purple-ish colored smoke towards his face. Sasuke clamped his mouth shut and jumped back to avoid inhaling the deadly poison (not to mention the knives) and in doing so he lost track of her movements.

'Behind!'

"Too late!" She yelled, her hand coming towards him flat, with the palm facing down and a strange electric current around it. He started turn, but felt the side of her hand connect with his neck and he was thrown back a few meters, unable to stop himself.

Sakura stood, her hands in a defensive position incase the technique hadn't worked. Chuusuusei Biribiri; Tsunade had finally taught it to her, but she'd never used it on an opponent before. The kunoichi was ready for anything that might have come her way.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu," His voice was quiet before he inhaled deeply and blew the chakra through his hands creating a stream of fire. But it was strange; his hands were slow at performing the familiar seals and positioning. It was as if his brain signals were slower. In fact, Sasuke was finding it hard to stand. Suddenly his breath quit on him and he collapsed to his knees. Sasuke's body was no longer responding.

Sakura was frozen. He was…behind me? She felt the heat racing towards her, and barely dodged. She felt the back of her leg in fire, once again, and it caused her to stumble. Franticly she preformed Kawarimi no Jutsu to escape his inevitable attack, but none came. Carefully the pink-haired girl stood and saw Sasuke on the ground. He seemed to be testing his limbs.

"What did you do to me?" He demanded. His eyes glared at her. She noticed he was regaining movement rapidly. Either her jutsu was weak or he was incredibly in tune with his body movements.

"I converted my chakra into an electric current and hit your spinal cord, messing up the electric messages in your body. You shouldn't be able to move for -"

She bit her tongue as she felt a foot connect with the middle of her back, sending her flying across the empty field.

"Wha?" Her body tumbled into the ground, skidding to a stop. She lifted her head to see him standing over her. "How-"

"You underestimate what I have learned. You are still weak,"

'No!...I'm not weak…!' Sakura pounded her hand into the ground, releasing chakra in an instant and breaking up the earth. Sasuke saw this coming, even without the sharingan, and jumped back. Dust blocked his vision, but he could feel her coming at him again. Sakura burst through the smoke, aiming a punch for his head. He ducked, doing a spin kick at her feet. She jumped, and then drew up her foot to pound him into the ground. Sasuke saw the attack but was unable to dodge it. Instead, he stuck out his palm to intercept the blow, but soon realized it was a mistake. When she hit his hand chakra was released, pushing him back, breaking a finger while jamming others. Sasuke managed to stay on his feet as he slid backwards. Sakura used this instant to whip out two more kunai and toss them, before performing another set of hand seals. Sasuke used his undamaged hand to catch the kunai, ready to use them in a defensive way. His cold eyes met her own in an attempt to read what was coming, but found himself staring into blackness instead of bright green.

'What…' The darkness swallowed him, and he was no longer able to move.

"Kokuangyo no Jutsu," he heard her whisper.

'Damn it…Genjutsu. I can't move,' He was searching for some way to break out of this powerful trap. The only option that came to mind was his sharingan. He scratched that idea. 'I don't need my sharingan to beat her. She may have gotten stronger, but she's still weak compared to me.' He tried concentrating on the minor pain his hand was in, but could no longer feel it.

Sakura took some deep breaths. That last move had nearly drained her of the remaining chakra, and she was now out of weapons. All the girl could do was hope that Sasuke used his sharingan to escape or she'd never be able to pull off another big move.

He heard her walking towards him, and he braced his body for attack. As anticipated it came, but it wasn't as strong as the first. He felt himself hit the ground and scrape over a few rocks. Sakura watched the expression on his face, a look of pure determination.

"Do it Sasuke. I want you to open your eyes," Her voice was surprisingly hard, but her breath was short. He could get it over with right now…

Another blow connected with his stomach. He coughed, but no blood yet. The wind was knocked out of him. Sakura reached up to wipe her own mouth and spit out the blood that had collected from when she bit her tongue. Her back was killing her; luckily her spine had not snapped.

"Do it!" She aimed for his face this time, all thought of love gone. Sasuke felt the power in her fist.

His eyes snapped open.

Sasuke's hand beat her own, crunching the bones of her caught fist. Sakura's face contorted in pain and he smirked.

"You asked for it," With one hand he tossed her backwards, where she landed on her side and rolled a few feet.

"Saku-" Naruto, who had been watching in horror, now jumped up to go stop the raven-haired boy. Kakashi quickly grabbed his collar and pulled him back, his own eye fixated on the scene.

"Don't interrupt. Isn't that what you told Sakura once?"

Of course Kakashi was right. Naruto now stood on the tree branch ready to spring into action if that bastard hurt her more than necessary.

Sakura struggled to stand again. She wanted, no, _had_ to see those red spinning wheels. Knees shaking and threatening to buckle, she got to her feet, emerald eyes wide and staring at him. He stared back with blood colored eyes. She saw that there were now three spindles surrounding his pupil.

And then she smiled.

'Why is she smiling!' Sasuke was in a rage now. Did this amuse her? He dashed at her, carelessly throwing his fist toward her face. With a strange swiftness she side stepped, and even though he had anticipated this long ago Sasuke still missed. With his sharingan he could see the moves she would make five seconds in advance at the least. Now, as he glared at her grinning face, she wasn't showing signs of moving.

"I win, Sasuke," Sakura whispered. He growled then rushed her again, but she did not get out of the way this time. Her body flew back into the forest, smacking into a tree after his hit landed. Now her limp figure slid down the trunk into a heap on the ground. Sasuke walked over to Sakura, lifting her head by pulling her pink hair. She stared up into his eyes, still with that insane grin on her face. His hand fell, but her head stayed tilted, and he preformed a series of seals, never breaking eye contact.

"Kanashibari no Jutsu," He said. She felt her body freezing up, but still the victorious grin held. Sasuke reached down and pulled her up by the shoulders, pinning her against the tree.

"Why are you so happy?" He asked, voice flat. She was silent for a second.

"Because I beat you, Sasuke. I made you use your sharingan." He glared now, and pushed her against the tree with more force. He hated this. She had been toying with him, using binding and Genjutsu that she knew he could only break with his bloodline limit. So that had been her game after all.

Sasuke was pissed, to say the least. He hated being tricked, being treated like a child, having his pride broken. He had beaten her into this state and she had a grin frozen on her face. Damn girl.

His curse seal prickled.

'What?' It sent a wave across him this time. Why was it reacting?

There was another emotion buried deep inside him. Somehow it was making him feel…guilty? Look at what he had done to this girl. The only person who really cared about him, and he had nearly knocked her unconscious and broken her hand. All she wanted was him to notice her…

'What…is wrong…' Sasuke's teeth were grit, and he had closed one eye, his contact now breaking with her. His jutsu was wearing off; she was loosening in his grip. '…with…me?'

"Sa-Sasuke-kun?" her voice was no longer prideful, but worried. He felt his head leaning in towards Sakura, no longer under his conscious control.

"Sa! Wh! What are you doing!" Now it was worry for her self. Sasuke's head was positioned over the area between her neck and the end of her collarbone. Without realizing it, he bit down.

At first it felt…kind of nice to Sakura. But then his teeth were beginning to dig into her flesh. Then he broke the skin, and blood trickled down inside of her clothes.

"Itai! Sasuke! What the?" She wriggled against his hands, but his hold was much too strong for her beaten body to fight.

Suddenly there was a 'poof 'noise and she felt the pressure being pulled from her. Another pair of arms caught her before she did a face plant into the dirt. Kakashi was holding Sasuke by the back of the shirt now, and when he release his grip the boy fell to his knees clutching his head. Kakashi could see down the large neck of his clothes where the curse seal stood out, now retracting.

Sakura fought against Naruto, who was now holding her from running to the Uchiha. Tired as she was, there might be some chakra left for healing. She wanted to do whatever she could to help.

"Sakura, leave the bastard alone. He doesn't deserve to be healed." Sakura stopped and glared at Naruto, who was looking back with slightly sad eyes. "Look at what he did to you,"

"He did it because I asked him to," She responded angrily. Naruto didn't release her arms though, and eventually she ran out of strength to fight him.

"Eh. Sakura, Naruto's right. I think you two should stay away from each other for a while,"

Sakura glowered at Kakashi now. How could she stay away, when she had finally managed to prove herself?

'This is NOT FAIR!' Inner Sakura proclaimed. But the kunoichi could do nothing.

Sasuke stood, spitting out the blood from her shoulder and wiping it from his mouth. He tried to act as if it didn't matter, but his face proved otherwise. He had a scared and troubled look that, no matter how hard he tried, would not clear away.

"Sasuke, we need to go see Hokage-sama. Now." Kakashi was…angry? He almost never used a tone like that. Sasuke sent a cold look his way, but followed his former Sensei nonetheless. Now Sakura and Naruto were alone. He relinquished his grip on her and she stumbled forward.

"Sakura, why did you do that?" he was obviously angry. "You knew you couldn't fight him head to head,"

"You know I had to do it, Naruto." The pink-haired kunoichi turned her head towards him. He could see tears making trails down her dirty face. "I thought you'd be proud of me though…I won." And she smiled. Naruto was quiet. Then -

"All right! Let's go get some ramen then!"

Sakura laughed. It was strange combination; blood, tears, and laughter. Naruto was again reminded of why he liked this girl so much.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"He still can't control the curse,"

Tsunade gazed at Sasuke with her brows pushed together. Great, another thing she'd have to deal with…

The boy kept his eyes pointed towards the floor. His hand was still paining him a bit, but he'd had worse.

"What do you think is wrong, Kakashi? I thought after running from Orochimaru that he'd stop sending him power."

"…" The Copy-nin shot Sasuke a look. "I think it has to do with one of him teammates."

"What, Naruto?" Now Orochimaru was chasing the fox as well?

"…No."

"Sakura!" The words exploded from her mouth. After training the pink-haired girl, Tsunade had grown rather fond and protective of her. Sasuke looked up at her exclamation.

"Sasuke, why didn't you mention this to me before?" Now the Hokage was angry with him.

'_Why? Because it would be a hassle, not to mention I wasn't sure myself…'_ He thought.

"I don't know," was all Sasuke said.

"Is only activating when you're around Sakura?"

"…Yes," the Uchiha didn't want to admit it.

"Do you know why?"

_'Obviously not. What's with all the questioning?'_

"No," Sasuke replied simply.

Kakashi sighed at how difficult his former student was being.

"The best option is to keep him away from Sakura until we can figure out what Orochimaru wants," Tsunade had taken a seat behind a large stack of papers on her desk. "If the seal only activates around her, then it shouldn't be a problem." Now she was holding a pen and writing furiously on a scroll. "Kakashi, tell Naruto to keep a close eye on Sakura. If Orochimaru can't use Sasuke to do…whatever he's planning to do, then he might send in someone to kidnap her,"

"That won't be necessary," Sasuke muttered. Both Kakashi and Tsunade sent him a strange look, but he didn't notice it.

"Don't do anything stupid Sasuke. You are dismissed."

As the pair stepped outside the door they missed the kunoichi hiding behind it. Or, at least, they pretended not to notice.

_'…keep him away from Sakura…'_ the words replayed in her head as she stepped inside the Hokage's office. What had she done to him? Her mind and heart were filled with worry.

"Oh…Sakura," Her mentor glanced up at her footsteps and took notice of her sad face.

Sakura had passed up Naruto's ramen offer, explaining that she needed to go clean herself up and take care of injuries. The truth was, she wanted to know what was wrong with Sasuke and if she could do anything but…

"I'm the problem," She whispered. Tears were starting to well up in her eyes. "I'm always the problem,"

Tsunade paused, watching her tears fall on to the ground. She had never cried this much when Sasuke was gone.

"No, Sakura, it is Orochimaru that is the problem. But, as I am sure you heard, that does not mean it is safe to be around Sasuke. I need you to promise you won't try to go to him."

Sakura wasn't sure if that would be a promise she could honestly keep. Her green eyes remained on the ground as she answered.

"I promise…"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Sasuke, just how did you kill Itachi?"

Shocked, the boy paused in his steps. Kakashi stopped as well, looking back over his shoulder. While he had been watching the fight between Sakura and Sasuke the masked ninja noticed that the Uchiha did improve, but was not near enough to Itachi's level to kill him.

"…" Sasuke answered with silence. Not that Kakashi had been expecting a straight confession.

"I see." He pulled out Icha Icha Paradise, flipping through a few pages. A few minutes later, the pair reached the Uchiha home. Sasuke watched Kakashi expectantly, waiting for him to leave.

"Don't try to run away," Was all he said before disappearing in a poof. Sasuke glared at the dissipating smoke. Suddenly he felt a presence nearby. This made him even angrier. Now they had ANBU watching him? He stormed into his house, slamming the door loudly. He instinctively grabbed the first thing he saw, which happened to be a glass cup on the table, and threw it against the wall with all his strength. The cup exploded against the wood and scattered glass all around the floor. Feeling empowered that he had so much control over the life of that little cup he walked over to the cabinet and pulled out another then chucked it against the wall as well. Its remains joined the other. He stared at them for a while, one hand pressed against his forehead.

_'What is wrong with me?'_ Sasuke had never been this emotional since Itachi killed the entire clan. Something pink reflected in the glass made him think of Sakura. He pushed this thought out of his head quickly, but it wouldn't leave him alone.

_'Why do I care so much?'_ Yet another difficult question, but Sasuke knew the answer. She was the only person left in the village who hadn't deserted him. His fan girls left him alone now - not that he wasn't happy about that - Kakashi was surprisingly cold towards him, the townspeople were giving him angry looks and distance when they walked past him, and even Naruto, his once thought best friend, was avoiding him all together. He was alone again. Alone.

There was another reason Sasuke needed Sakura. That day, in the hospital, he had wanted to ask her to marry him despite his small curse problem. Not for love per say, but to fulfill his goals. Maybe, if he had a family, he'd feel…complete again. Back before Itachi changed, he had been so happy, just living out his days trying to be the best Ninja so his dad would be proud. Such a silly goal it seemed now. And happiness...the word was foreign to Sasuke.

But no, Orochimaru and Itachi had to take that away from him as well. Sasuke decided to clean up the glass later. Instead the boy walked up the stairs to his empty feeling room where he fell into a rather fitful sleep.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

_Itachi grabbed onto his wrist much like their first encounter. Sasuke now had enough sense to break away quickly and leap back._

_"Why did you have to do it Itachi?" The boy found himself surprisingly close to angry tears. "Why did you have to kill everyone?"_

_"Foolish brother, I have already explained that to you already."_

_"Why did you have to be so selfish?" Sasuke's sharingan was activated and his hand was gathering power for another chidori. _

_"I did not do it for myself, Sasuke. I did it for you."_

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

A/N: hope you liked this! The fight scene is rather strange, I admit, but it came out as planned. Sakura's weird, huh?

Yeah, Sasuke threw a fit. Great, ne? And a little inner monologue. I have planned out his character for a while, and even placed my mind in his place…

Bleh, I almost wrote myself into a corner this chapter. Orochimaru will be appearing again next time - he needs to explain himself!

Neji/Saku next chapter. People keep saying it's a triangle, but it's not really...At least, I fail to see the triangle part. However, because I keep getting so many people reviewing who want it to be a NejiSaku, I have unconsciously developed a plot for a NejiSaku story, and might start writing it if there's enough interest. So just state in your review if you want it written.

Ja till next week!

(I was thinking of doing a reviewer response, but this chapter has already gone way over the normal 3,000 words I tried to limit myself to…heh )


	7. Proposal

Surprise!

Disclaimer: I don't own Neji, but I can certainly have him do whatever the hell I want in this fan fiction!

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

It was about a week after Sasuke's self-imposed house arrest that Sakura could be found wandering down the main road of Konoha. She had just bought some new Ninja equipment and was about to head off to the hospital when she heard someone call her name.

"Huh?" The kunoichi turned to see Neji standing a few feet behind her. "Neji-kun!" A smile graced her lips as he approached. "How are you? Oh! I never asked Naruto: how did that one mission go?" For some reason her normal excitable self was showing through. Neji, however, kept a straight, somewhat blank face, much like another dark-haired boy she knew.

"It was over soon after you left. We found one last sound-nin and interrogated him. He did give us some information, but Naruto and Lee became a little too enthusiastic…" His eyebrow was twitching slightly.

"That sounds like them," Sakura giggled.

"Yes. That aside, I wasted to ask if you would train with me. I want to be rid of this ridiculous blind spot. Next to…TenTen…you have the best aim."

Sakura noted that his voice lowered when the Hyuuga mentioned his former teammate's name.

In response to his question the kunoichi bit her lip and reached down to the newly restocked kunai pouch. Neji's clear eyes were watching her expectantly, and she sighed, giving in under his gaze.

"Fine. Where are we going?"

Neji gave her the smallest hint of a smile before turning wordlessly and leading her out into his normal training grounds.

The day was clear and clean, perfect weather for some training and then a cold drink. The Hyuuga prodigy and the cherry blossom stood in the middle of a small clearing not too deep in the forest, letting their hair move with the breeze. Neji made no move to attack, and Sakura had no weapons in her hand. Something told the kunoichi that Neji didn't really want to train. He took a few steps to close the distance between the two of them, now turning his eyes from her and unto the large trees that kept Konoha village a secret.

"TenTen and I used to train all the time here," Neji started. "It was here where I learned the Kaiten and thought I could beat Naruto at the chuunin exam tournament. It was her that helped me widen my field of vision and become even more skilled then my bloodline did," the Hyuuga trailed off, letting the wind take her name away.

"We were all saddened by her death…it was horrible…" Sakura looked down at the grass, memorizing its appearance.

"It wasn't fair for her to die that way." Neji's voice remained calm. "She was a fine kunoichi…much like you are." His cloudy eyes watched the pink-haired girl until her eyes met his. Her emeralds gazed silently, nervousness showing behind them. "If she was still alive today, I'd probably be asking her this. I did care about TenTen a lot…as a teammate, as a person…

"You know my family is prestigious and famed for our bloodline ability. Hyuuga is a powerful name to wield around the country, but also dangerous. My father is pressuring me to choose a wife, someone who I know would be a good strong mother…To me, it seems much too young; I should be concentrating on becoming a shinobi worthy of the ANBU ranking. But my father says that it would be better to start now…" Neji turned away again as the breeze blew his hair into his face. Sakura was clutching her hands to her chest, scared of what was coming out of Neji's mouth. He needed to find a woman who would be a good mother? Why was he telling this to her….she was too young, just as he said! Her heart started beating rapidly inside her chest, a loud thumping that matched Inner Sakura's yelling in the background. The kunoichi was horribly confused.

"Sakura, do not get me wrong; I wouldn't ask a girl for something like this if she didn't mean anything to me. And I do care about you. You're someone I want to protect and take care of. The last months we've spent together, you've proven how strong and how good of a person you are. I've watched you as you matured during Sasuke's absence. I know you better then he does, I won't hurt you like he has." When Neji turned back around, Sakura saw his face was almost all business. This frightened her even more … he was… asking her to just give up what she had…?

"Sakura, I want to ask for your eventual hand in marriage."

The words stung her like poison needles. She gasped and stared straight down at the grass she had memorized, tears welling up in her eyes. This was just too sudden, too … how could Neji do this? Yes, she cared about him too, but did she care enough to love him? Would she be willing to give up her life and become a Hyuuga? She still loved Sasuke…

"I don't think Sasuke is the one for you, Sakura. You can hold onto any love you have for him, but he won't return it. He's too cold to care and protect you like I could."

The kunoichi felt like his voice held no emotion. He didn't seem upset about this whole thing at all. Marriage wasn't a big deal? Sakura always wanted an actual love, something that just came naturally. But it was a question if she wanted to spend her whole life waiting for a thing like that, something she knew was now null and void in this world of rankings and bloodlines.

And then, the more the medic-nin thought about it, the more she realized that Neji wouldn't actually be a horrible parent. He was strong, dependable, and he understood how the world worked, and his only anger was with the family rankings. If she did decide to marry Neji, she would also become a relative of Hinata, even if it meant she had to bow to her. All in all, she probably would learn to love Neji. He was probably a lot softer when he was alone with someone. It was just that the ice had to be broken off his heart before someone could get into it.

These thoughts were becoming dangerous. She loved Sasuke!

_"YOU LOVE SASUKE YOU IDIOT!"_ screamed Inner Sakura. Tears started to stream down her face, her heart in utter confusion. Neji had been there while Sasuke had not, and yet, her whole existence seemed to be powered by the fluctuations in Sasuke's life, no matter how unhealthy that might be.

Neji walked closer to her, his arms almost like they were about to hug her, spread wide with the long white sleeves flapping freely. She saw it all the clearly, the arms wrap around her shuddering body and spin her so that she was hidden by his body. It was all in slow motion … and then there was a small grunt of pain from the Hyuuga. Sakura gasped as she pushed him away and saw a man with a sound-nin headband holding a deck of cards right behind Neji.

He had only protected her from this man's attack…

"Who are you?" Neji demanded, spinning around with the Byakugan activated. The sound-nin simply smirked and drew a card from his deck, whispered some words, and threw the card at the Hyuuga. Neji jumped back, still shielding Sakura, watching what the card would do. A puff of smoke exploded from the card, and in its place now stood a life sized queen, created from the picture on the card. Two more playing cards landed right in front of the couple, and the Queen figure was joined by a Jack and a King. These human-looking creations all reached into the robes they were wearing and drew out diamond shaped weapons. Sakura leapt back further, still emotionally distressed over Neji's proposal, and fell to her knees.

"Do not worry, Sakura," said the Byakugan user, before he assumed the hand of the Juken (Gentle Fist) stance, one hand out, one to the side. Neji then charged the three figures silently, easily blocking each attack they made with their diamond shaped weapons. They had him surrounded at one point, wherein they held up the three weapons, connecting them with a line, and several blasts shot out from the connecting lines, which Neji easily countered with one of his chakra spins, and this blasted the figures back off their feet, and into their original card shapes. The sound-nin in the forest cursed, realizing what he was up against, and did a quick jump up into a tree. He sat up there now, throwing his razor sharp cards at Neji, and when he swiftly dodged each one, the number of symbols on each card became more weapons, now chasing him from behind. The Hyuuga ran into the trees, weaving around them and forcing the weapons chasing him to stick into the trunks and instantly dissolve. He then concentrated chakra into his feet and ran straight up a tree, reaching the top only to back flip off, where the rest of the symbols stuck and disappeared. Another card came flying towards his face, and Neji reached out and grabbed it between two fingers. It was the two of hearts. His guard dropped for one second, and the sound-nin threw more cards. But they were all easily avoided again, and Neji had a plan this time. He drew a kunai from his large white sleeve and hid it against his wrist in case he needed it while running from the object chasing him. This time he headed straight for the tree the enemy was in, clacking his way up the tree and leaping from one branch to another, chasing the sound-nin. Symbols crashed into the bark around them with 'thunk'-ing noises, and Neji closed in on his target.

Right when the Hyuuga narrowed the distance too much, the ninja turned around, releasing a volley of shuriken. Neji was heavily reminded of TenTen, and this angered him even further. With one easy swipe across his face, Neji created a trail of chakra that acted as a shield and blocked the weapons from hitting his body. The sound-nin now gave up on running away, and stopped to engage in hand to hand combat, a fatal mistake. Neji easily targeted all of the man's tenketsu, and once he had him cornered, unleashed the Hakke Rokujuyon Sho. Every strike hit the man's body, whether it was trying to dodge or just took the hits limply, and by the end, the enemy ninja was left barely alive and powerless in the bushes of the forest. The Byakugan user gracefully jumped down through the branches and picked up the dead weight that was his enemy, walking out of the forest and up to Sakura.

"I will always protect you," he said, before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. Sakura's face fell into her hands and she wept openly, thoroughly confused by the feelings inside of her. It took ten minutes before she could regain enough composure to run back into the village, where she easily found her best friend, Ino, in her family's flower shop.

"Ino…" Sakura wandered into the sweet smelling building, still trying to rub her eyes of the redness, which wasn't help in the slightest.

"What is it, forehead-girl?" Ino stuck her tongue out at her pink-haired best friend, not seeing what sort of state the girl was in.

"Ino…" the cherry blossom repeated, walking closer. Ino's electric blue eyes suddenly widened once she saw something was wrong, and pointed Sakura over to their usual tea table in the back of the shop.

Over the years, Ino had certainly developed into a beautiful woman. She had everything most men desired, and a powerful punch to boot. She was still one of the strongest of her age, and no man ever got her down. Ino remained Sakura's best friend through it all as well. She currently had a thing for Shikamaru, and they seemed to fit together perfectly in Sakura's eyes. It was funny watching them bicker though. Wasn't that an example of love at work?

"I talked to Neji today…" Sakura started. But the words were hard to say. Ino had a pot of hot water and offered tea, which Sakura refused until she could say what she needed to.

"Neji….he….asked me to marry him!" the confused girl finally blurt out. Ino promptly dropped the cup she had in her hand and jumped out of her chair.

"What!" she shrieked. It wasn't that the blonde had any sort of a fondness for Neji or even Sasuke now, but this was unbelievable! Neji was asking Sakura to marry him?

As soon as Ino cleaned up the broken glass and sat back down, Sakura began telling the entire story. By the end of it, the other girl was stunned. That explained Neji's odd behavior.

"Wow…" said Ino, drawing her fingertips to her brow. "That's just crazy, forehead-chan…" Sakura looked up and frowned at the name calling, even if it did make her feel a bit more at ease. Now that she had told someone, her shoulders felt lighter.

"I just don't know what to do, Ino-pig. I do care about Neji, but my heart lies with Sasuke. It always has. Am I just being stubborn?"

"You've always been stubborn Sakura. And I don't know. But this just blows me away. In fact, I'm fairly jealous. You're the one who boys are fighting over, not me." She was still conceited. "All I can say is give yourself time to think. I mean, sure, Neji would be a great choice for a husband, but are you ready for that commitment yet? And I mean…he's so…like Sasuke." Her nimble fingers waved through the air in a wild gesture.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sakura snapped.

"It means he's cold and has a dark past. But hey, if you're attracted to that type…" Ino shrugged. "I'm just glad I have Shikamaru, that lazy bastard." She grinned at this. "But seriously, Sakura, just take your time. If Neji cares about you, that's great; he's a strong ninja who can take care of a family. If I were you, I'd probably end up picking him."

A tinkling bell echoed through the shop, and Ino left, swishing her long blonde hair, her voice changing to the happy perky store clerk type to try and sell flowers. Sakura decided Ino wouldn't care if she stayed in back for a while and drank some tea to calm her nerves. She had a lot of sorting to do in her head.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Sasuke was really beginning to hate Konoha again. All the people starring really pissed him off. It was almost like his old days here, the fan girls chasing him down and trying to shove their feelings on him. Only this time, it was the entire village trying to force their hatred at his betrayal.

Everyone in Konoha knew who he was. When he first entered the tavern/bar at the end of a street that Shikamaru had invited him to, the bartender had warned him that there was to be absolutely no fighting on his property. Sasuke decided to reply with his usual "Hn," rather then make a scene. The Uchiha spotted his "friends" in the far corner, shot glasses in their hands along with an already red faced Kiba. Akamaru sat to the side of him, now a huge dog, and looked a little woozy as well. Chouji and Shino were there as well. Only Shikamaru did not eye Sasuke warily, and simply took another drink of his sake.

"Afternoon, Sasuke," the bored ninja said in a monotone, watching the last Uchiha take a seat next to him. Obviously, he could feel some of the tension too. The others weren't scared of Sasuke, as much as they were angry with him for almost costing them their lives. The next few minutes were silent except for Kiba and Akamaru's odd off-key singing, which wasn't funny to anyone at the time. Finally, Kiba blurted out,

"Yo, bastard, you almost killed us way back when you were in that stupid crate of yours." Akamaru barked in agreement. All eyes went to Sasuke at that point, and he chose to take a drink of the sake he ordered. As the little cup came down from his face, the men were all watching him expectantly.

"You also chased me?" He asked. He only remembered that fight with Naruto…

"Yeah," replied Shikamaru. He threw his thumb towards Shino, "Except him. He had a different mission." Shino had unbuttoned the top of his jacket in order to take his drinks, and was able to keep the bugs that lived inside his body hidden for this one time. Chouji was stuffing his face with different foods her ordered each time the waitress passed.

"We all fought to get you back," the large ninja added between bites. Sasuke grasped the sake bottle a little harder, as if threatening to strange it.

"It was me, Kiba, Shikamaru, Naruto and Neji that were called to chase after you," Chouji continued. Kiba shouted a random huzzah, and Sasuke smacked his fist down on the table. The others jumped slightly, afraid he was about to start something. The curse seal was now tingling slightly.

"Tell me what happened," Sasuke said coolly. Shikamaru frowned at the raven-haired man for a second, trying to judge how troublesome it would be, when Kiba decided to jump in and do as asked.

"Well," the canine-like man said, both loudly and after a burp, "you decided to do that whole run away thing, right? So we all were like 'bastard!' and Shikamaru was like gathering us all up to go after you and stuff, you bastard,"

Shikamaru sighed, and Shino reached over to give the drunk a little bit of a smack on the head.

"Here…I'll just tell the story, even though it'll be troublesome," Shikamaru said slowly, placing the sake shot back down on the table.

"Right after you disappeared…"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

_'So that was it,'_ thought Sasuke. _'They risked their lives to keep me away from Orochimaru.'_

After he had heard the story, Sasuke pushed his mostly full bottle of sake towards Chouji. He had quietly stood up and thrown money down on the table, before burying his hands deep into his pockets and walking out into the cold Konoha night. He wandered aimlessly, just thinking over the sacrifices that had nearly been made for his return. Was he really that important, or were they just that afraid of Orochimaru, he wondered.

Sasuke's head tilted back, looking up into the clear sky with its thousands of stars. He easily blended in with the darkness…

His chin fell a bit when he saw a name he recognized. Yamanaka. Yamanaka…Ino?

And as he scanned his memory for who that was, something ran smack into him, almost knocking him over. He instinctively whipped out a kunai, looking down to see who was attacking.

"S-Sasuke-kun….!"

And there sat Sakura, her emerald eyes widening at the sight of him.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

**A/N: Please read before you destroy me with reviews!**

Hey everyone!

Dude, I updated this story. It took a friggin' year, but I did it. After writing some one shots, I looked at this story again, because I liked the number of reviews it had. And just….thanks guys. I realized how good of writing this story was for me, and I just picked up the plot again.

For those of you who were anxious about that contest thing, I've pretty much forgot how I had planned out TenTen's death and its addition to the story. So….yeah….I had to make that up again real quick for this chapter.

Anyways…Wow…Well…let's hope it doesn't take another year to get another chapter out, eh?

Hope you liked this, and please don't kill me with your reviews.

**Neji might not be my character, but this is my story, and I can have him be as OOC as I want.**

I bet some of you are really angry about this chapter. But I did what I thought was best for Neji's character in that sort of situation. I know I'm going to be eaten alive by you rabid fans!


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